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LETTERS 



V 



ON 



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BY J; BIGLAND, 

\UTHOa OF "LETTERS" oil' ANCIENT HISTORY," "LET- 
TERS ON EIJGLISH HISTORY," &C. 



s 



BALTIMORE. * 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN J. HARROD, 134, MARKET-STREEl 

Richard J. Matchett, Printer. 
1819. 












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PUETACFi. 



THE importance of history in a liberal education, is go 
universally known and acknowledged, as to render its re- 
commendation to parents and instructors of youth wholly 
superfluous. But of all its departments, the history of 
France, after that of his own country, is the most inter- 
esting to an Englishman. Ever since the time of William 
the Conqueror, the epoch in which the two kingdoms first 
came into political contact, France has been intimately 
connected wKK E«gji«iiu, sumeximes Dy irienaiy, but oN 
tener by hostile relations; and the experience of ages has 
shown, that no important alteration can take place in the 
state of the former, without affecting the interests of the 
latter kingdom. 

The universal prevalence of the French language, is also 
a sfrong and natural inducement to the study of the na- 
tional history. That language is now the general vehicle 
of communication throughout Europe; and a competent 
knowledge of it is considered as an indispensable requisite 
in a British education. It is, therefore, incongruous, that 
Englishmen should not have some acquaintance with the 
history of a people whose language constitutes so essential 
a part of the juvenile studies of both sexes throughout the 
British dominions. Every reason that can induce us to 
the perusal of the history of Greece or Rome, calls our at- 



rV PREFACE. 

tention to that of France, in the events of which we and 
our children are far more deeply concerned. 

But independently of these considerations, to which 
every enlightened parent and instructor will allow their 
full weight, the history of France is intrinsically inter- 
esting. It brings to our view transactions and events 
not less important than those which decorate the annals of 
Greece and Rome. There is no Roman emperor, except 
Ceesar and Trajan, whose name stands higher in the re- 
cords of fame than that of Charlemagne, or whose reign, 
except that of Constantine, occasioned greater alterations 
in Europe. No transaction in Greek or Roman history is 
more extraordinary or striking than the croisades, and the 
story of the Maid of Orleans. The annals of no other 
country exhibit such remarkable revolutions of power. In 

the early history of the French nation, more distinctly than 
in that of any other, we see the compieie d»-g,T«<ia*;o» of 
the royal authority, and the rise ot an aristocratical sys- 
tem, which reduced the king to a pageant, and the people 
to a state of slavery. In proceeding, we perceive the so- 
vereigns gradually resuming their power, the monarchy 
acquiring a stable foundation on the ruins of the aristocra- 
cy, and the once powerful and turbulent* nobles sinking 
into obsequious servants of the court. Here we view the 
establishment of despotism: the king become every thing, 
and all classes of subjects nothing in the state. But at the 
same time w'e have the pleasure of contemplating a scienti- 
fic and literary, as well as a political picture displaying the 
rapid progress of letters, of science, and arts, exciting the 
emulation of other countries, and particularly of England- 
At length the French history exhibits a tremendous revo- 
lution which overturned the throne and the altarj and after 



PREFACE. V 

producing events of unparalleled magnitude, terminated in 
the restoration of the monarchy and the ancient dynasty, 
together with the establishment of a new political constitu- 
tion- During these tremendous^convulsions we see France 
exhibiting herself in a military attitude, such as all con- 
quering Rome never assumed, raising and maintaining an 
arjned force, double to that which the Roman empire ever 
displayed- Such are the outlines of a picture which the 
reader is invited to contemplate. 

The plan here adopted for the instruction and amusement 
of the historical student is that of an epistolary correspond- 
ence, which, by assuming the form of a personal address, 
seems the best calculated for exciting attention; and th© 
letters which divide the subject into distinct and specified 
periods, are begun and ended with appropriate reflections, 
in order to render the narrative more impressive, as well as 
to exercise, the too much neglected faculty of thinking. 
The reigns of the French raonarchs are marked at the head 
of each letter, with the names of the cotemporary kings of 
England; an arrangement which renders the whole more 
interesting and luminous to those who are versed in En- 
glish history. 

It is necessary here to observe, that history as well as 
every other science ought to be studied methodically, in or- 
der to arrange it in the mind, and fix it in the memory, pur- 
poses which cannot be attained by careless and desultory 
reading. Without method, the ideas instead of being rang- 
ed in regular order, are left vague and dispersed. In con- 
sequence of this important consideration, questions for the 
examination of the pupil are annexed to the end of eacfi 
letter, in order to ascertain the degree of attention witfi 
which he has perused his lesson, and the impression that it 



XI PREFACE, 

has left on his mind. These questions corresponding with 
the articles of the narrative, numerically distinguished, the 
references will be made with the least possible trouble ei- 
ther to the teacher or the pupil. This method I have, from 
the experience ofthirtj years employment in the education of 
youth, invariably found to be peculiarly efficacious in excit- 
ing attention and arranging the ideas. The very act of re- 
currence to what has already been read, greatly contributes 
to strengthen the memory- It is scarcely necessary to add 
that the lessons may be made longer or shorter, and the 
questions either increased or diminished in number, ac- 
cording to the discretion of the teacher and the capacity of 
the pupil. 

This historical compendium is carefully compiled from 
the most accredited French authors and others who have 
treated the subject. Not only Father Daniel and Mezerai, 
but Gregory of Tours, Boulainvilliers, Joinville, Loisel, 
Philip de Comines, Pasquier, Brantome, Froissart, De 
Thou, Montluc, Le Laboureur, L'Abbe Mabli.L'Abbe Du 
Bos Montagne, L'Abbe Langlet, Hist, de la Pucelle d'Or- 
leans. Hist, literaire de France, Memoires de PAcademie 
des Belles Lettres, Memoires du Due de Berwick, Me- 
moires du Due de Noailles, Voltaire, iSiecle de Louis XIV. 
and Siecle de Louis XV. and Henault's Abrege Chronolo- 
gique de PHistoire de France, have been consulted. The 
strictest attention is paid to chronology; and although this 
epitome is chiefly designed for the instruction of youth, it 
■will exhibit to those of mature age, a view of French history 
sufficiently luminous to enable them to eonvierse with pro- 
priety on the subject. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 
From the earliest ages, to A. D. 481, Page I 

LETTER II. 

Comprising a period of two hvmdred and seventy years, from 
A. D. 481, to A D. 751, filled by the reigns of Clovis and 
his descendants, and corresponding with the estabUshment 
of the Saxons, and the existence of the heptarchy in Eng- 
land, ...-- 7 

LETTER in. 

Comprising a period of sixty -four years, from A. D. 750, to 
A. D. 814, 24 

LETTER IV. 

Comprising a period of a hundred and seventy-three years, 
from A. D. 814, to A. D 987, 38 

LETTER V. 

Comprising a period of seventy-three years, from A. D. 987, 
to A. D. 1060, - - - . 64 

LETTER VI. 

Comprising a period of one hundred and sixty-three years, 
from A. D. 1060, to A. D, 1223, .-.----.- 



till 6K) STENTS. 



LETTER Vlf. 



Comprising" a period of one hundred and five yearS, from 
A. D. 1223, to A. D 1328, - - - - 95- 

LETtER VIII. 

Comprising a period of one hundred and thirty-three years 
from A. D. 1328, to A. D. 1461, 105 

LETTER IX. 

Comprising" a period of one hundred and twenty-eight years 
from A. D. 1461, to A. D. 1589, - ^ 141 

LETTER X. 

Comprising a period of two hundred and three years, from 
A. D. 1589, to A. D. 1792, , . . . . IT2 

LETTER XI. 

€omprising a period of eleven years and four months, want- 
ing three days, from the death of Lewis XVI. 21st January, 
179:3, to the establishment of the empire under Napoleon 
Bonaparte, on the 18th of May, 1804, ---,--- 241 

LETTER XII 

Comprising a period of eleven years and one month, from the 
commencement of the empire 18th May, 1804, to the bat- 
tle of Waterloo, and the complete establishment of the 
house of Bourbon, - 2T7 



LETTERS 



ON 



]f 3Bl^s^:g]i3 m©^®Oiirc 



LETTER I. 



DEAR SIR, 

OF all the countries of Europe, France 
next to our own, is that which chiefly merits our 
attention. From a period of very remote antiqui- 
ty, it was noted for its abundant fertility, and its 
numerous and warlike population. In after times 
it has not been less distinguished by its early ci- 
vilization and the events of its history It has 
generally held an important rank, and often had a 
preponderating influence in the scale of European 
nations; and its political and military concerns' 
have, during the space of seven hundred and fifty 
years, been intimately blended with those of Eng- 
land. Without some knowledge of the history of 
France, that of Great Britain leaves only an in* 
c?omplete idea. 
B 



2 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. .. 

1. During the times of the Roman republic and 
empire, France was known by the name of Gallia 
or Gaul, and its inhabitants, called Galli or Gauls, 
were of Celtic origin. At what period the Celts 
migrated from the central parts of Asia, whicli 
may be considered as the cradle of the human race, 
and formed settlements in Gaul is unknown, being 
probably anterior to any records of history or tra- 
dition. But it is certain that from Gaul they soon 
spread into Britain, and in all probability were its 
first inhabitants. The religion, the form of go- 
vernment, the manners and customs of the Gauls 
and the Britons were, according to Caesar's des- 
cription, so similar, that no doubt can be enter- 
tained of their being originally sprung from the 
same common stock. 

2. Gaul, like most other countries in those early 
times, was divided into a number of independent 
and often hostile states; and although history throws 
only a glimmering of light on the subject, it is easy 
to conceive the state of the country under such a 
political system, constantly a theatre of intestine 
wars, and presenting various scenes of devastation. 

3. Some of the Gallic tribes, actuated by a de- 
sire of plunder or the love of romantic adventure, 
made formidable inroads into neighbouring and 
even very distant countries, i About four centuries 
before the Christian era, the Tectosagse, a Gallic 
tribe inhabiting the country around Toulouse, be- 
ing led by Brennus their chief, penetrated into Italy 
and destroyed the city of Rome, the capitol alone 
resisting the assaults of those barbarian conquer- 
ors. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 3 

4. From this memorable epoch, the Romans 
regarded the Gauls as their most formidable ene- 
mies; and in their wars with that people, consi- 
dered themselves as fighting, not for conquest and 
glory, but for independence and national existence. 
At length, the valor and discipline of the Roman 
legions, directed by the military skill and experi- 
ence of Julius C^sar, triumphed over those ene- 
mies who had so long been the terror of the repub- 
lic. After a vigorous and successful war of ten 
years' duration, that celebrated general reduced 
the w^hole of Gaul under the Roman domination. 

5. During the space of nearly five centuries, 
Gaul remained under the dominion of Rome, and 
constituted one of the most valuable and flourish- 
ing provinces of her extensive empire. In the 
fifth century, the Romans being attacked on every 
part of their extensive frontier by the nations to 
the north of the Danube and the Rhine, that vast 
empire, which had conquered and civilized all the 
southern countries of Europe, w^as at length over- 
turned, and its provinces were divided amongst the 
barbarian tribes of Germany, Hungary, Transyl- 
vania, Moldavia and Wallachia. 

6. Amidst these tremendous commotions, three 
different nations formed settlements in Gaul. The 
Goths having ravaged Italy, their king, Adolphus, 
brother of the famous Alaric, concluded a peace 
with the emperor Honorius, espoused the sister of 
that monarch, and in consequence of that arrange- 
ment, established a Gothic kingdom in the south- 
ern part of Gaul, called Gallia Narbonensis, and 
.made Toulouse its capitol. The Burgundians, a 



<t LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

people of German origin, seized on the eastern 
part; and the Franks, another German nation in- 
habiting a district situated between the Rhine and 
the Weser, established themselves in the northern 
provinces. The Franks afterwards made them- 
selves masters of the whole country of Gaul, which 
from its new possessors derived the modern name 
of France. 

7. The first king of the Franks whose name 
history records, isPharamond. The commence^ 
tnentofhis reign is placed by the French histo- 
rians about A. D. 424^ ; but it does not appear that 
this prince ever passed the Rhine to make any 
conquests in Gaul. His son cind successor, Clo- 
dion, issaid to have conquered that part of the 
country which is now called Belgium, but was then 
included in Gaul ; and it is added, that about 
A. D. 436, he obtained possession of Cambray and 
its adjacent territory. 

8. Clodion was, according to the French histo- 
rians, succeeded by Merovasus, who is said to 
have been an ally of the Romans in the celebrated 
battle fought against Attila, king of the Huns, in 
the plains of Chalons in Champaigne, where that 
barbarian conqueror received the memorable de- 
feat which effected his expulsion from Gaul. The 
appellation of Merovingian, /which is given to the 
first dynasty of French monarchs, is generally 
supposed to be derived from Merovaeus ; but the 
truth of this opinion is questioned by the president 
Henault, and is a matter of dispute amongst the 
learned. The death of that prince is placed about 
A. D. 468 ; and the sceptre of the Franks devolved 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 5 

m\ his son, Childeric, who died A. D. 481, and 
whose actions, Hke those of his predecessors, 
are involved in obscurity. Some historians say; 
that Childeric made himself master of the north- 
ern parts of France, and added Paris to his do- 
minions; but it does not appear certain whether 
that city was his acquisition, or that of Glovis, 
his son and successor. 

I have thus, my dear sir, endeavoured to exhi- 
bit a sketch of the ancient state of Gaul, and of 
what may be called the fabulous, or at least the ob- 
scure age of the French monarchy. It is only the 
uncertain outline of an almost obliterated picture; 
and history affords few authentic documents to il- 
lumine its faded colouring. The first kings of 
the Franks, illiterate themselves, reigned over an 
illiterate people. Like the early heroes of Greece 
before the Trojan war, they had no historian to 
commemorate their exploits, no poet to sing their 
praise. Letters alone can transmit the remem- 
brance of actions and events to posterity; for, as 
an elegant writer observes, "When the hillock 
which covered his remains is removed, or his fu- 
neral stones are thrown down, the memory of the 
savage perishes for ever. ' ' But when we reflect on 
the multitude of kings and chiefs of whom fame 
has preserved no memorial, and whose names time 
has swept away from the earth, it is some conso- 
lation to consider, that the history of barbarian 
princes, and illiterate nations, scarcely merits the 
attention of enlightened ages. 

With every sentiment of respect and esteem, I 
have the honour to be, dear sir, your's, &c. 
B2 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — What was the ancient name of France? 

Who were its first inhabitants? 
2. — What was its early political state? 
S. — What were the early exploits of the Gauls? 
4. — Who was the Roman general that conquered Gaul? 
5. — How long was Gaul subject to the Romans? 

What was the state of Gaul while under the Roman 

dominion? 
6, — What nations settled in Gaul on the subversion of 

the Roman empire ? 
7. — Who was the first king of the Franks mentioned in 

history? 
$. — What is the appellation usually given to the first 

dynasty, or race of Trench kings? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



LETTER II. 

Comprising a period of two hundred and seventy 
years, from A. Z). 481, to A. D, ISl, filled by 
the reigns of Clovis and his descendants, and cor- 
responding with the establishment of the Saxons, 
and the existence of the Heptarchy in England, 

DEAR SIR, 

CURIOSITY strongly impels us to inves- 
tigate the origin of celebrated nations, empires, 
and states; and that of the French monarchy, par- 
ticularly claims our notice, on account of its early 
and continued importance. But the history of its 
commencement, and the actions of its primitive 
monarchs are so involved in obscurity, that the 
president Renault begins his Chronological His- 
tory with Clovis, the first Christian king of 
France, whom he considers as the real founder of 
the monarchy. 

1. Cloyis succeeded his father, Childeric, A. D, 
481, but it is uncertain how far the Franks had 
extended their conquests in Gaul, and what was 
the state of their kingdom at his accession. The 
battle of Soissons, in which he gained a signal vic- 
tory over the Roman general Siagrius, is recorded 
as the first memorable transaction of his reign. 
This event took place A. D. 486, and from that 
time all his enterprises were successful. In the 
next ten years of his reign, he made himself mas- 
ter of the provinces situated between the Somme, 



^ LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, 

the Seine, and the Aisne; and the city of Rheims, 
with several others, submitted voluntarily to his 
authority. 

2. A variety of circumstances favoured the de- 
signs of Ciovis, and contributed to his success. 
Salvianus, a writer of that age, informs us, that 
the Gauls, harrassed and oppressed by tyrannical 
governors, were weary of the Roman domination, 
and regarded the Franks as deliverers rather than 
conquerors; and had they even had fewer causes 
of complaint, the decline of the Roman empire 
rendered the nations hitherto subject to that go- 
vernment sensible of the necessity of looking out 
for a new master. The people of Gaul were 
strongly attached to their clergy, and Clovis gain- 
ed their affections by the favour which he shewed 
to their bishops. Arianism prevailed at that time 
in the Christian world. The Gauls were the only 
people untainted with its doctrines; and, sur- 
rounded by Arian princes, they had reason to be 
alarmed both for their religion and liberty. Such 
was the state of things in Gaul, when Clovis be- 
gan to sway the sceptre of the Franks. The cler- 
gy, as the Abbe du Bos judiciously observes, if 
they found that they must have a barbarian for 
their master, would give the preference to a Pagan, 
rather than to a heretic, as the Pagan religion was 
visibly on the decline; and the conversion of an 
idolatrotis prince appeared much more probable 
than that of one who adhered to Arianism. The 
marriage of Clovis with Clotilda, a princess of 
Burgundy; and a Christian, also afforded them 
laopes of his conversion; and the pious endeavours 



Letters on prench history. p 

of his consort contributed to realise their expec- 
tat ions. 

3. But it was requisite to overcome the preju- 
dices of the Franks before Clovis could make a 
public profession of Christianity. PoHcy suggest- 
ed an expedie-nt well calculated for this purpose. 
Having defeated the Alemanni, a German nation, 
at Tolbiac, near Cologne, A. D. 496, he piously, 
or politically, ascribed his victory to the God of 
the Christians, whom he declared that he had in^ 
voked when the issue of the battle was doubtful, 
binding himself by a vow to embrace Christianity, 
if his arms should prove successful. This decla- 
ration of their king produced such an effect on ih^ 
minds of the Franks, that when Clovis was baptiz- 
ed in the same year at Rheims, the whole nation 
followed his example. At this period, Arianism 
was so predominant in the Christian church, that 
Clovis was the only monarch who professed the 
Catholic doctrine of the Trinity. 

4. The conversion of this prince does not ap- 
pear to have extinguished his ambition: he con- 
tinued to aggrandise his power, and extend his 
dominions. He made himself master of Gaul, as 
far as the Pyrenees. The inhabitants of Bretagne 
having cast off the Roman yoke, submitted volun. 
tarily to his authority, and owned him for their 
sovereign, and although the history of his reign is 
far from being luminous, it appears on the whole 
that, in consequence of the co-operation of the pre- 
lates and most of the clergy, he found the whole 
country of Gaul an easy conquest. 

5. The seat of government was at first fixed at 



10 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

Soissons; but about A. D. 508, Clovis made Paris 
the capital of his dominions. The origin of large 
and celebrated cities, like that of great empires, is 
often involved in obscurity; but here, in viewing 
the magnificence of the oak, we see distinctly the 
acorn from which it has sprung. This metropolis 
of France is first mentioned by Caesar, in the 54th 
chapter of the 7th book of his Commentaries. In 
his time, it was known by the name of Lutetia, 
and the whole of it was comprised within the nar- 
row limits of that island in the Seine, which is 
now called L'lslc Notre Dame, or La Cite, and 
does not compose one-twentieth of the area of 
the present city of Paris. Being completely sur- 
rounded by the Seine, it was considered as a 
place of great strength; and the adjacent marshes, 
which human industry has since converted into 
firm ground, and covered with magnificent edi- 
fices, rendered it of still more difficult access to 
an enemy. But the buildings were only an as- 
semblage of small huts, like those of the other 
towns in Gaul and Britain, Such was the state of 
the present metropolis of France, about fifty-seven 
years before the Christian era. About the middle 
of the fourth century, the emperor Julian, then 
governor of Gaul, made Lutetia his favourite re- 
sidence, and adorned it with commodious and ele- 
gant buildings, but apparently without extending 
its limits; and it was probably confined to the 
island in the Seine, until after Clovis had made it 
the capital of the French monarchy. Its present 
name of Paris is derived from the circumstance of 
its having been the principal seat of the Parisii, a 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 11 

Gallic tribe, who, in the time of Caesar, occupied 
the town and its adjacent territory. 

6. Clovis having established the monarchy of 
the Franks in Gaul, and promulgated many use- 
ful laws, died A. D. 511, at the age of 45, after 
a reign of thirty years, and was interred in the old 
church of St. Genevieve, at Paris. The character 
of this first Christian king of the French appears 
to have been a mixture of valour and policy. In 
war and in peace he was equally prosperous, and 

i was perfectly skilled in the art of deriving advan- 
tage from favorable circumstances. 

7. Clovis was succeeded by his four sons, who 
divided amongst themselves his extensive domi- 
nions. Thierry reigned at Metz, Childebert at 
Paris, Clotaire at Soissons, and Clodomir at Or- 
leans. Whether this succession and division was 
regulated by the sole will of the deceased monarch, 
or by some law or custom of the Franks, is not 
known; but it is certain, that the consequences 
were hostile to the prosperity and happiness of the 
nation. France being thus divided into four inde- 
pendent kingdoms, after a fcw^ years of tranquil- 
ity, began to exhibit a scene of barbarian wars 

; and murderous contention, until at length the 
' w^hole was, by various turns of fortune, united 
under the sceptre of Clotaire. After that union, 
the most prominent event of his reign was of a 
most melancholy and horrible nature. Cramne, 
one of his sons, having rebelled, and levied an 
army, was defeated in battle by his father, and 
perished with his whole family in the flames of a 
cottage in which he had taken shelter. 



12 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTC^KY. 

8. Clotaire died, A. D» 562, in the fifty -first 
year of his reign as king of Soissons, but only in 
the second of his sovereignty over all France. A 
few years before the union of the monarchy under 
his sceptre, the heptarchy was completely fori^ied 
in England. 

9. On the demise of Clotaire a second partition 
of the French monarchy took place; and the ex- 
perience of the evils which had resulted from the 
former division did not prevent its repetition. 
The sons of Clotaire, like those of Clovis, were 
four in number, and the former kingdoms were di- 
vided amongst them by lot. Charibert obtained the 
kingdom of Paris; Gontran was king of Orleans 
and Burgundy; Sigebert reigned over Austrasia; 
and Chilperic at Soissons, But the precise boun- 
daries of those divisions are unknown to the French 
historians and antiquaries; and the actions of their 
monarchs are now vminteresting. It suffices to 
sav, that all the evils of disunion were reiterated 
with the most horrible aggravation, and France 
again became a disgusting theatre of contention 
and crimes. After a long series of wars carried on 
with the most vindictive spirit, the destruction of 
a multitude of princes of the blood royal, many 
of whom fell by assassination, left Clotaire II. the 
son of Chilperic, king of Soissons, sole sovereign 
of France. 

10. This third union of the monarchy took 
place A. D. 613. Clotaire was a lover of justice 
and peace: he promoted the prosperity and hap- 
piness of France, and died A. D. 628, in the forty- 
sixth year of his age, greatly regretted by his sub- 
jects. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 13 

11. Clotaire II. left two sons, Dagobcrt and 
Charibert, who, following the former precedents, 
divided the kingdom. But the death of Charibert, 
about three years after, left his brother in posses- 
sion of the whole monarchy. 

12. The state of nations, in the different peri- 
ods of their history, is more worthy of notice than 
the succession of princes whose bones are long 
since crumbled to dust; for a barren list of royal 
names is but little interesting. The reign of Da- 
gobert furnishes some facts which show that a very 
considerable degree of wealth existed at that time 
in France. St. Eloy, a native of the province of 
Limousin, who was treasurer to Dagobert, and 
bishop of Noyon, was, in the early part of his life, 
an opulent goldsmith, and used to wear a bell set 
with diamonds when he came to court in the reign 
of Clotaire. He made for that prince a chair of 
massive gold, and for Dagobert an entire throne 
of the same metal. The relations of historians con- 
cerning the magnificence of that age would appear 
incredible, did they not point out the sources from 
whence those riches were derived. The Romans, 
who had established so many colonies, and built so 
many fine cities in Gaul, had undoubtedly brought 
into that country a part of that wealth of which 
they had plundered the world. And the Visigoths, 
when they established their kingdom at Toulouse 
under Adolphus, the brother of Alaric, must have 
brought thither a considerable share of the spoils 
of Italy and Rome. Another considerable source 
of wealth was the trade to the Levant, which had 
been opened to the French by negotiations with 

C 



14 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the emperors of Constantinople. But it must be 
observed, that whatever historians may relate con- 
cerning the luxury and splendour of ancient times, 
ought to be considered as relating only to princes, 
prelates, grandees, and a few opulent merchants. 
Wealth was then in the hands of a very small 
number of persons, and in such a state of society 
as France, and indeed all Europe, presented be- 
fore the extension of commerce and the effects of 
civilization had excited the industry and ameliora- 
ted the condition of the lower classes of the com- 
munity, the splendour and magnificence of the 
srreat were not a sure criterion of the wealth of the 
people. 

13. Dagobert being sole sovereign of France, 
the kingdom enjoyed a considerable share of pros- 
perity, and presented on all sides a formidable 
front to its enemies. But the vices of the monarch 
debased the royal authority, and he burdened the 
people with taxes in order to support his debauch- 
eries, or to expiate them by pious profusion. He 
founded the abbey of St. Denis, so long famous 
for being the burial-place of the kings of France; 
and his bequest of eight thousand pounds weight 
of lead to covei; the church, was his last attempt 
to bribe heaven to pardon his sins. He died A. D. 
643, and left two sons, Sigebert and Clovis, who, 
according to the former precedents, divided the 
kingdom. 

14. From this period may be dated the first 
appearance of that singular political phenomenon, 
the power of the mayors of the palace, which 
makes so conspicuous a figure in the history of 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 15 

France. The office of mayor of the palace was 
originally confined to the direction of the king's 
household: they afterwards became the first minis- 
ters of state, and, at length, commanders-in-chief 
of the armies, and assumed the title of "Dux 
Francorum," or "Duke of the French," or some- 
times that of "Subregulus,'' or "Viceroy." At 
first they were subject to removal at the king's 
pleasure: they had afterwards the influence and 
address to secure their office for life, and at length 
to render it hereditary. 

15. During the reigns of the sons and grand- 
sons of Dagobert, constituting a period of about 
forty-five years, France continued to be divided 
into two kingdoms, Austrasia and Neustria, the 
latter of which included Burgundy, and Metz was 
its capital. Each of these kingdoms had its mayor 
of the palace, whose power had almost absorbed 
the royal authority. During this period various 
changes of fortune took place amongst the princes, 
descendants of Dagobert, the details of which are 
now uninteresting. 

16. Dagobert II. king of Austrasia, beingassas- 
sinated about A. D. 678, Thierry III. who reign- 
ed over Neustria and Burgundy, became sole heir 
to the whole of the French monarchy. But the 
Austrasians dreading to fall under the power of 
Ebroin, mayor of the palace to Thierry, refused 
to acknowledge his authority, and chose Pepin 
d'Heristal, father of the celebrated Charles Martel, 
for their sfovernor. 

17. Pepin reigned over Austrasia with the title 
of duke; but he professed to acknowledge Thierry 



16 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTOR'K. 

as paramount sovereign, and to rule in his name. 
A rupture however took place about A. D. 690; 
and a battle decided the contest between the real 
and the nominal kings. Thierry was defeated, 
and Pepin usurped the supreme authority over the 
whole kingdom of France, under the title of may- 
or of the palace, while the former, divested of 
power retained only the ostensible appearance of 
royalty. 

18. During the remainder of the life of Thier- 
ry, and those of his successors, Clovis III. Chil*- 
debert III. and Dagobert III. Pepin continued to 
reign over France in their names, and was the real, 
while they were no more tb^n the nominal sove- 
reigns. His administration however was condu- 
cive to the prosperity of the kingdom. He reduced 
to obedience several provinces on the frontiers, 
which the divisions and weakness of the govern- 
ment in the preceding reigns had encouraged to 
revolt; and although he subverted the regal power^ 
he greatly augmented the strength of the state. 

19. Pepin being deprived by death, of both his 
legitimate sons, constituted his grandson Theode- 
bald, who was yet an infant, mayor of the palace to 
Dagobert HI. and placed him under the guardian- 
ship of his mother, Pepin himself died soon after, 
A' D. 714, and the people of France saw the royal 
authority transferred to an infant, and subjected 
to the control of a woman. A revolt was the con- 
sequence of so strange an arrangement. The in- 
fant Theodebald was divested of his authority. 
Dagobert III. dying at this juncture, was succeed- 
ed in his nominal sovereignty by Chilperic II. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 17 

son of Childeric 11. and a nobleman named Rain- 
froy was constituted mayor of the palace. 

/20. In the meanwhile, Charles Martel, the son 
oC, Pepin by a concubine, making his escape from 
a prison^ in which he had been confined by Theo- 
debald's mother, appeared amongst the Austra- 
sians, who received him with the greatest respect, 
and acknowledged him as duke of their country. 

21 A war soon ensued between the new duke 
of Austrasia and Chilperic II. and the latter being 
defeated in several engagements fled into Aqui- 
taine. Rainfroy, mayor of the palace, was divest- 
ed of his office; and Charles Martel placed on the 
throne, in the room of Chilperic, another pageant 
king, known in history by the name of Clotharius 
IV. This revolution took place A. D. 719; but 
Clotharius dying the tame year, Charles recalled 
Chilperic to the throne. Charles now united in 
his own person the whole authority of the French 
empire; and was king in every respect, excepting 
the name; although, for some reasons which his- 
tory has not developed, he contented himself with 
the le%s ostentatious title of mayor of the palace. 

22. Chilperic II. dying A. D. 720, Charles 
placed Thierry IV. son of Dagobert III. on the 
throne, and continued to reign over France in his 
name. His administration was highly conducive 
to the advantage and glory of the French nation. 
In the year :73 2, he gained over the Saracens that 
memorable victory which has immortalised his 
name. Abdoulrahman-ben- Abdoullah- El-Gafiki, 
viceroy of Spain for the caliph Hakkam who 
reigned at Damascus, resolved to attempt the con- 
c 2 



18 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

quest of France, and passed over the Pyrenees 
with an army, which by its numbers seemed to 
defy all opposition. After defeating the duke of 
Aquitainehe made himself master of Bourdeaux, 
traversed the provinces of Perigord, Saintonge, 
and Poitou; destroyed the towns and the churches, 
and carried desolation and slaughter as far as the 
neighborhood of Tours. Charles Martel, alarm- 
ed at the danger which menaced France; and even 
all Christendom, marched with the whole force of 
the kingdom to check the progress of this formi- 
dable invader. On the south side of the Loire, 
and not far from Tours^ the important contest was 
decided. The issue of the battle long remained 
doubtful; but at last the French gained one of the 
inost complete victories that the history of the 
world commemorates. The carnage on the side 
of the Saracens was almost unprecedented : the 
most moderate statements of their loss make it 
amount to upwards of three hundred thousand 
men, amongst whom was their commander, the 
viceroy of Spain, who on this bloody day termi- 
nated his ambitious career. This brilliant and 
most important victory over an enemy who^, until 
that celebrated day, had been deemed invincible, 
and threatened Europe with subjugation, threw a 
l)laze of glory arouncl the name of Charles Martel 
which time can never extinguish.* The Sara- 
eens were soon after entirely expelled from France, 
and gave up all hopes of subduing that kingdom. 

* It is supposed to have been on this occasion that 
Charles acquired the surname of Martel, or the Hammer. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH n.. FORlf 19 

23. After the death of Thierry IV. which hap- 
pened A. D. 737, Charles continued to reign un- 
der the title offduke of the French, without no- 
minating a new king; and, being victorious in ev- 
ery quarter, he sat down in peace, the fame of his 
exploits having rendered him the arbiter of Eu- 
rope. 

24. Charles Martel died A. D. 742, and was 
interred in the abbey of St. Denis. His two sons, 
Fepin and Carloman, shared the kingdom; but 
they remained closely united; and joining their 
forces, defeated the Bavarians, the Alemanni, the 
Saxons, and the Sclavonians. About A. D. 746, 
Carloman retired to Rome, and embraced the mo- 
nastic life, leaving Pepin sole master of the French 
monarchy. 

25. Pepin had, for some unknown reasons, pla- 
ced a nominal king; Childeric III. son of Chilpe- 
ric II. on the throne, But without giving him any 
real power. At length, however, the minister, 
not contented with possessing the regal authori- 
ty, resolved to assume the title of king. In this 
he was encouraged by "pope Zachary;^ who, like 
himself, was a man of abilities and enterprise, and 
wanted his aid against the Greek emperor, Con 
stantine Copronymus, and also against the Lom- 
l>ards. The sentiments of the nation likewise con- 
curred with his own ambition Through the in- 
fluence of the pope, as well as in gratitude for fa- 
vours received from Pepin, the clergy of France 
supported his pretensions: the nobles respected 
him for his military talents, and the people despis- 
ed the pageant kings who had so long been no 



20 . LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

more than mere shadows of royalty. In this state 
of things, a new dynasty was introduced, without 
any commotion in the state. The minister was 
placed on the throne A. D. 751; and the king, 
Childeric III. was shut up in a monastery. Thus 
ended the Merovingian line of kings, the royal 
race of Clovis, after having worn the crown of 
France during the space of two hundred and fifty 
years, reckoning from the tinie of that monarch's 
accession. 

26. I have now, my dear sir, conducted you 
under the surest guidance that history can furnish, 
through a period which, although somewhat ob- 
scure at the first, becomes at length more lumi- 
nous, and is certainly both curious and interesting. 
The latter part of this period exhibits a singular 
system of government: a long continued succes- 
sion of kings without power, and of ministers in- 
vested with the supreme authority, constituting 
two hereditary races; one of real, the other of no- 
minal sovereigns. In this political picture, the 
talents and activity of the mayors of the palace form 
a striking contrast to the imbecillity and inactivity 
of the kings; who, neither knowing nor caring 
what passed in the kingdom, were mere pageants 
of state, decorated with the insignia of royalty. 
The appellation of '*faneants," or sluggards, given 
them by the French historians, is aptly expressive 
of their indolence. 

27. In speaking of the magnificence and opu- 
lence displayed at the court of Dagobert I. I have 
endeavoured to furnish some slight notices con- 
cerning the commerce of France in those early 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^1 

times; but of this part of the picture, a very faint 
outHne alone can be traced. History has so much 
to commemorate, that ancient writers have left 
unnoticed many facts and circumstances, of which 
modern curiosity would desire a distinct memo- 
rial. The historians of former ages have furnish- 
ed us with few documents relative to the state of 
society. Overlooking the general condition of 
mankind, they seem to have regarded the intrigues 
of courts, and the sanguinary contests of kings and 
warriors, as the only transactions worthy of being 
transmitted to posterity. And the antiquary of 
modern times finds himself lost in attempting to 
investigate the state of arts, sciences, letters, and 
commerce, at a remote period . Amidst this gloom 
however, we can perceive, that in the fourth cen- 
tury, the age immediately preceding the irruption 
of the Franks, learning flourished in Gaul, and the 
country.had, in all probability, as extensive a com- 
merce as any part of the western empire, unless we 
may except Italy. Autun, Bourdeaux, Toulouse, 
and Marseilles, were seats of the muses: the last 
of those cities was also an emporium of commerce. 
The Gauls had. long been completely Romanized, 
and the Latin ^. was the vulgar language of the 
country. And here it may not be amiss to ob- 
serve, that the irruption of the Franks into Gaul 
was less violent; and less marked with destruction 
and carnage, than those of the Saxons into Eng- 
land; and those of the Goths, Heruli, &c. into 
Italy. From these circumstances it is reasonable 
to conclude, that neither religion nor learning, nor 
the happiness of civil society, received so great a 
shock by the entrance of the Franks into Gaul, as 



25 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

by the irruptions of the other barbarous nations 
into some other provinces of the Roman empire. 
It therefore appears, that in the age of Clovis, 
France possessed as much learning as any country 
on this side of the Adriatic. The frequent divi- 
sions of the empire of the Franks, and their 
turbulent consequences, seem to have been more 
prejudicial to literature than their first conquest of 
the country; for the Benedictine authors of the 
'^Literary History of France" have observed, that 
until the time of Charlemagne, learning was con- 
stantly on the decUne. 

After placing in your view this sketch of the 
early annals of one of the first nations of Europe, 
which you will contemplate as an assemblage o 
objects in distant perspective, and compare with 
the cotemporary period in the history of your own 
country, I shall for the present conclude with pro- 
mising you further communications on this inter- 
esting subject. And I beg leave to assure you, 
that, with every sentiment of esteem and affection, 

Your's, &:Cn 

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — In what year did the reign of Clovis commence? 
2.' — What circumstances favored his designs? 

Why did the Gauls prefer a Pagan to an Arian Prince? 

What gave them hopes of the conversion of Clovis? 
S. — How did Clovis overcome the prejudices of the Franks 

against Christianity? 

Who was the only Catholic monarch? .,.,„ 
4. — How far did Clovis extend his conquests? 
5.— What was the ancient name of Paris? 

Within what limits was the city comprised? 

From what did it derive its present name? 
6.— In what year did Clovis die? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 23 

7. — Who succeeded him? 

Under whose sceptre was the kingdom re-united? 
8. — Wliat events took place in England in the time of 

Clotaire? 
9. — Who succeeded Clotaire? 

Under whom was France again united? 
10. — What was the character of Clotaire II? 
11. — Who succeeded Clotaire II? 
12. — Wlio made a throne of gold for Dagobert I? 

What trade was a source of wealth to France? 
13. — .Who founded the abbey of St. Denis? 
14. — WHien did the exorbitant power of the mayors of thp 
palace begin to appear? 
What was their original office? 
15. — Into what kingdoms was France divided, under the 

successors of Dagobert I? 
16. — Who was the father of Charles Martel? 
ir, — What authority did Pepin usurp? and under what 
title? 

18.-.- — — ■ , 

19. 

20.— WHio was Charles Martel? 
21. — What office and title did he assume? 
22 — Where and in what year did Charles Martel defeat 
the Saracens? 
What was the loss of the Saracens? 
23. — Under what title did Charles reign during the in- 

terrregnum? 
24. — In what year did Charles Martei die? 
Where was he buried? 
Who succeeded him? 
25. — Who did Pepin make king? 

Who encouraged Pepin to usurp the throne ^ 
How long had the Merovingian, or first race of kings, 
worn the crown of France? 
26. — By what appellation are those kings after Dagobert I. 

distinguished? 
27.— V\ hat was the vulgar language in Gaul in the tourth 
century? 
How long was learning on the decline? 



24 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



LETTER III. 

Gomprising a period of Sixty -four Years, from 
A D. 750, to A. D, 814 

Kings of France. 

Pepin. ? The heptarchy still continu- 

Charlemagne. 5 ^^ ^^^ England. 

DEAR SIR, 

ACCORDING to my promise, I resume 
the plan which I had proposed for your instruc- 
tion in one of the most important branches of Eu- 
ropean history, and shall make no apology for ex- 
hibiting to your view the most brilliant period of 
the French empire. 

1. Pepin, the son of Charles Martel, having 
deposed Childeric III. the last of the Merovin- 
gian kings, as already related ascended the throne 
A. D. 751, being then about thirty-seven years of 
age. It may here be remarked, that princes 
whose title is defective, generally devise some ex- 
pedient to impose on the minds of the people; and, 
in order to confer a kind of divine character on 
usurped royalty, Pepin was, in imitation of the 
Jewish kings, solemnly crowned and anointed, 
with consecrated oil, a ceremony unknown to his 
predecessors. Some writers pretend, that Clovis 
was anointed at his coronation, but the relation ap- 
pears to be fabulous; and the president Renault 
expressly affirms that Pepin was the first king of 
■France on whom that ceremony was performed. 



LETTESS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 25 

2. Pepin soon began to signalize his reign by his 
military expeditions, and the success of his arms. 
Astolphiis, King of the Lombards, had seized on 
the exarchate of Ravenna, an appendage to ihp 
Eastern empire; and, laying claim also to Rome, 
advanced towards that city. In consequence of 
this invasion, the Roman pontiff, Stephen III. 
went in person to Paris^ to implore the assistance 
of the French monarch. Pepin immediately march- 
ed into Italy, recovered the exarchate from tli« 
Lombards, and conferred it on the pope, a circum- 
stance which laid the foundation of the temporal 
power of the Roman See. 

3. The successes of Pepin in Italy were not the 
only glories of his reign. He was victorious over 
the Saxons, the Bavarians, the Sclavonians, and 
the Duke of Aquitaine^ whose duchy he annexed 
to the crown of France^, of which it had hitherto 
been held as a fief. Having greatly aggrandized 
his power, and extended his fame, this great mo- 
narch died A. D.|768, in the fifty-fourth year of 
his age, and the seventeenth of his reign, which 
had been uniformly successful and glorious. His 
character may be estimated from his conduct, both 
in politics and war, and forms a striking contrast 
with the indolence and imbecility of the "faneant" 
kings, his predecessors. His usurpation of the 
throne is the only crime that can be laid to his 
charge; but he wrested the sceptre from a race in 
whose hands it was useless; and he swayed it \^'ith 
glory and advantage to France. From his dimi- 
nutive stature^ he is distinguished from his grand- 
father by the designation of Pepin the Short; but 

D 



26 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

his mind was capacious, and his courage invinci- 
ble, being equally prudent in council, and intre- 
pid in action. 

4. The two sons of Pepin, Carloman and Charles, 
known by the name of Charlemagne, a corruption 
of" Carolus Magnus," or Charles the Great, suc- 
ceeded their father, and France was threatened 
with intestine commotion by their ambition, and 
the collision of their interests. But the death of 
Carloman secured the public tranquility, by leav- 
ing Charles in possession of the undivided sove- 
reignty of the whole kingdom. The reign of this 
prince was a series of important transactions, and 
produced a great revolution in the political and so- 
cial state of Europe. His first military expedition 
was against the Saxons, whom he defeated near 
Paderborn; and pillaged their famous temple, 
where the idol Irminsul was worshipped. The 
conquest of the kingdom of the Lombards was his 
next achievement. Desiderius then swayed the 
sceptre of Lombardy. Charlemagne, and his bro- 
ther Carloman, had espoused two daughters of 
that prince : the former had divorced his wife, and 
married a princess of Swabia; the latter had left 
two sons, who, after his death, had retired with 
their mother into Lombardy, where their grand- 
father Desiderius took them under his protection. 
The king of the Lombards resolving to assert the 
rights of the young princes, as successors of Car- 
loman, drew upon himself a war which proved fa- 
tal to himself and his family. Charlemagne en- 
tered Italy, and defeated Desiderius; M^ho, unable 
to keep the field, shut himself up in Pavia, his ca^ 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^7 

pital. The French monarch immediately laid 
siege to that city; which, after a long and despe- 
rate defence, was at last compelled to surrender. 
The unfortunate Desiderius, with all his family, 
including the widow of Carloman, and her two 
sons, fell into the hands of the conqueror, and were 
sent prir.oners into France; but how they were af- 
terwards disposed of is uncertain, as history is si- 
lent concerning their fate. TJiiis ended the king- 
dom of the Lombards, A. D.\774, after a duration 
of /two hundred and six yearsTTln the whole of 
this aflairv^he French monarch and the pope had 
gone har>u in hand; and immediately after its con- 
clusion, Adrian I. issued a decree, proclaiming 
Charlemagne king of Italy, and patrician of Rome. 
5. Almost every year of the reign of Charle- 
magne was marked by some military enterprise, 
and signalized by some brilliant success. In the 
} ear 778, he undertook an expedition into Spain 
at the solicitation of the Saracen prince of Saragos- 
sa, who requested his assistance against the caliph 
of Cordova, oftering to acknowledge his paramount 
sovereignty. The French monarch readily ac- 
cepted this proposal, which furnished a pretext for 
extending his sway beyond the Pyrenees. March- 
ing into Spain M'ith the greatest celerity, he estab- 
lished the Saracen chieftain in Saragossa, and re- 
ceived homage of all the princes whose territories 
w^ere situated to the north of the P'bro. But in 
repassing the Pyrenees, his rear was surprised, 
and nearly cutoff, by the duke ofGascogne, in 
the valley oll^Roncevaux, where fell the famous 
Rowland, whose name has been immortalized by 
the early romances. 



78 I.ETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

6. About two years after his Spanish expedi- 
tion, Charlemagne made a kind of triumphal 
march through Italy to Rome; amidst reiterated 
applauses and accumulated honoursi and at his re- 
quest, the pope anointed and crowned his two sons, 
Pepin and Lewis, kings of Lombardy and Aqui- 
taine. 

7. The state of affairs in Germany now requir- 
ed his attention. Of all the enemies.that Charle- 
magne ever had to encounter,lthe Saxons were the 
most desperate and intrepid. The last grand ef- 
fort of that warlike people was made under the con- 
duct of|Witikiml,/the most celebrated of their ge- 
nerals. *'But their desperate valour was at length 
compelled to yield to the superior disciphne and 
tactical skill of the French. After many battles, 
fought with the greatest obstinacy, and oceans of 
blood spilt on both sides, the Saxons were at length 
completely subdued. Bavaria was also annexed 
to France, and Charlemagne remained master of 
Germany: Witikind embraced Christianity, and all 
his subsequent conduct showed the sincerity of 
his conversion; but he could not inspire his follow- 
ers with the same sentiments. Many of them en- 
tertained an inextinguishable hatred against ihe 
religion and domination of the conqueror. Char- 
lemagne, therefore, in order to render their subjec- 
tion complete and perpetual, removed the Saxons 
from their ancient possessions in Germany, and 
distributed them throughout Flanders, Helvetia, 
and other provinces of his dominions.' Their 
country was repeopled by colonies of the Adrites, 
a Sclavonian nation. By this decisive measure, 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 29 

his power in that quarter was placed on a firm 
and permanent basis, while new conquests in- 
creased, the extent of his empire. Towards the 
end of ^|he^igji]j3uxatur)ri he made himself mas- 
ter of the kingdom of the Avars, formerly that 
of the Huns, comprising the modern Austria, 
Hungary, and Transylvania: France, Germany, 
and the Netherlands, part of Spain, as far as the 
river Ebro; and Italy, as far as Benevento, in the 
kiiigdom^of Naples^ were also under his domi- 
nion.,! 

8. The power of the French monarch was now 
uncontrolable, and his glory was about to reach 
its meridian. Being at Rome on Christmas-day, 
A. D. 800, a singular scene was exhibited, which 
notwithstanding the surprise affected by Charle- 
magne, had undoubtedly been preconcerted be- 
tween him and the pope. While this prince at- 
tended at mass; in the church of St. Peter, the so- 
vereign pontiff, Leo HI. approaching him, placed 
an imperial crown on his head. The people im- 
mediately began to cry, with loud acclamations, 
''Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, 
crowned by the hand of God! Long live the 
great and pious emperor of the Romans!" The 
pope then conducted him to a superb throne pre- 
pared for that important occasion, and presented 
him with the imperial robe. His title was uni- 
versally acknowledged, and congratulations pour- 
ed in from every quarter. Thus the western em,- 
pire, which expired in the year 476 with Augus- 
tulus, its last emperor, was revived in the person 
D 2 



uO LE'l'TERS ON FKENCH HISTORY. 

of Charlemagne, and continued till the unprece- 
dented commotions which have, in our days, con- 
vulsed all Europe, occasioned its dissolution. 

9. In the year 803, Nicephorus, who had 
usurped the imperial throne of Constantinople, 
and been recently crowned emperor of the East, 
acknowledged Charlemagne as emperor of the 
West, and the boundaries of the two empires were 
settled by treaty. This monarch had now some 
years of leisure, which he employed in promoting 
the interests of learning, and enacting good laws 
for the governing of his dominions. For this pur- 
pose, the grand Capitularies were drawn up at 
Aix-la Chapelle. It may here be observed, that 
the Capitularies were laws enacted in the general 
assemblies, and were nearly of the same nature, and 
answering the same purpose, as our acts of Par- 
liament. 

10. Although Charlemagne must be considered 
as one of the most sagacious princes that ever 
swayed a sceptre, yet he stumbled upon that grand 
solecism in politics, of which history had in so 
many instances recorded, and his predecessors had 
so often experienced, the disastrous effects. In 
a general assembly of the nobles and prelates, 
A. D. 806, he made a testamentary division ol' his 
dominions amongst his three sons, Pepin, Lewis, 
and Charles. Pepin and Charles died a ftw years 
after this arrangement. But Charlemagne con- 
firmed to BeVnard the son of Pepin, his father's 
share of the partition, and proclaimed that young 
prince king of Italy. 

1 1. About the commencement of the ninth cen- 



LETTERB ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^1 

*'ury, the barbarous nations bordering on the Bal- 
tic began their predatory descents on the coasts 
of England and France. In England they were 
known by the name of Danes: onthe contlnentj 
they were, from their northerly situation, indis- 
criminately called Normans. Their name was ac- 
companied with terror, and their footsteps were 
marked with destruction. Charlemagne seeing 
his maritime provinces threatened, and sometimes 
insulted by those ferocious and daring marauders, 
took the most judicious measures for preventing 
their ravages. He visited his harbours, and built 
a number of ships of war, which he placed in fit 
stations on all the coasts of his extensive domi- 
nions. Boulogne was one of the chief of these 
stations: its port was repaired, and rendered com- 
modious for that purpose. The nobility had or- 
ders for personal service by sea as well as by land, 
and to appear with their vassals on board of the 
fleets, as well as in the armies. By these precau- 
tions, Charlemagne averted, during his reign, the 
storm which afterwards fell upon France, although 
not with so decisive effects as upon England. 

12. This great and celebrated monarch, who 
swayed with such glory the sceptre of France, and 
in whose person the Western empire was revived, 
departed this life on the 28th of January, A. D. 
814, at Aix-la-Chapelie, in the seventy- fifth year 
of his age, and the forty-sixtli of his reign over 
France, having been thirty. nine years king of Ita- 
ly, and thirteen years emperor. His eharact^' 
was not less remarkable than the events of his 
reign. As a consummate statesman, his name 



S^ LfeTTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

shines in the historic page with pecuhar brilliancy. 
His views were extensive; his projects were vast: 
and as he always employed the most effectual means 
for carrying them into execution, his enterprises 
generally terminated with the most splendid suc- 
cesses. His military qualifications, like those of 
Alexander, can scarcely be estimated with accu- 
racy: his victories were numerous, brilliant, and 
decisive; but, like the Macedonian conqueror, he 
never canie into contact with an enemy whose 
troops were equal in discipline and skill to those 
that he commanded^ and therefore we have no cri- 
terion by which we can form a just estimate of his 
abilities as a general. 

13. In religious affairs, he often assumed a tone 
of decision unbecoming in any individual, how 
exalted soever his rank and situation. But those 
who are supreme in power too often consider them- 
selves infallible in judgment, and Charlemagne 
expected that his own opinions should constitute 
the creed of his subjects. An inviolable attach- 
ment to the papal see was intermingled with his 
politics, and to him and his father the pontiffs of 
Rome were indebted for the foundation of that 
power which, although kept within the bounds of 
moderation during his reign, became in process of 
time so tyrannical and formidable. The success 
of his arms, however, was conducive to the exten- 
sion of Christianity, although for its propagation 
he sometimes used means not exactly conformable 
to the mild spirit of the Gospel. To the ambition 
of a conqueror, he joined the zeal of a converter. 
He founded several bishops' sees m Germany, and 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. o3 

to him that country owed the^ntroduction of the 
Christian religion, ;as well as the first rudiments of 
civilization. 

14. The efforts of Charlemagne for the advance- 
ment of commerce, and the embellishment of his 
dominions, are w^orthy of commemoration. Be- 
sides causing public highways to be made or re- 
paired, and bridges to be constructed where neces- 
sary, he projected a grand canal for the purpose of 
opening a communication between the German 
ocean and the Euxine sea, by joining the Rhine 
with the Danube. This canal, which would have 
been to France, the Netherlands, and Germany, 
what the Grand Junction canal is to England, was 
begun on a large scale; but through the ignorance 
of the engineers of that age, who were unable to 
surmount such difficulties as would vanish before 
modern ingenuity, it was never completed. He 
also founded and embellished a number of cities, 
and rebuilt many of those of Italy which, in con- 
sequence of the long troubles and frequent revolu- 
tions of that country, ^vere fallen into a state of 
dilapidation and decay. Amongst these were Ge- 
noa, which had been destroyed successively by 
the Saracens and the Lombards; and Florence, 
which had lain for the space of two centuries in 
ruins. In Germany, he built Aix-la-Chapelle in 
the most magnificent style of that age, and made 
it his ordinary residence^ 

15. Of a prince so famed in history, the most 
trifling notices gratify curiosity and excite inte- 
rest. vHis person was athletic, his constitution 
robust, and his stature almost gigantic. ' He was 



34 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the tallest and strongest man of his time, and the 
activity of his disposition was equal to the strength 
of his frame. In private life, his manners were 
not less amiable and engaging than his public cha- 
racter was illustrious. He was frugal and tem- 
perate: his house was a model of economy, and 
his dress of simplicity. Eginhard, the writer of 
his life, informs, that "he wore only a plain dou- 
blet which, in winter, was made of an otter's skin, 
a woollen tunic fringed with silk, and a blue coat 
or cassock: his breeches and stockings consisted 
of transverse bands or fillets of cloth of different 
colours^" Such was the dress of the greatest mo- 
narch of Europe, except on particular occasions, 
which required a display of royal and imperial 
magnificence. 

16. But the most striking, and to the eye of rea- 
son and intellect, the most interesting trait in the 
character of Charlemagne, must be contemplated 
in his efforts for the revival of learning. Providence 
had placed his reign in a dark and ignorant age; 
but his great and comprehensive mind would have 
done honour to the most enlightened period. Not 
withstanding the immense political machine, the 
operations of which he had to direct, and the wars 
in which he was so frequently engaged, he seldom 
neglected his studies either in the court or the 
camp. He delighted in the company and conver- 
sation of learned men, and drew them by liberal 
encouragement, to his court from all parts of Eu- 
rope. Amongst these illustrious luminaries of a 
dark and illiterate age was the. famous Alcuin, an 
' Anglo-Saxon divine,^ who was a native of York, 



LETTERS O]^ FRENCH FHSTORY. 35 

and received his education in that city, a circum- 
stance which, in concurrence with some others, 
seems to indicate, that in the latter times of the 
heptarchy, England possessed more learning than 
France. Charlemagne thus established in his pa- 
lace an academy, of which he esteemed it an honor 
to rank as a member. But his exertions for the 
revival of learning were not confined within the 
precincts of his court. He established schools in 
the cathedrals and fjrincipal abbeys; and from 
these institutions the universities of Pai'is, Tours, 
Thoulouse, and several others, are generally sup- 
posed to derive their origin. In peace, and in 
war, the interests of literature and science occupied 
an ample share of his attention; and he honoured 
and rewarded learning and genius with imperial 
munificence. In order to appreciate the character 
of this extraordinary man, and the importance of 
his reign, it is necessary to observe, that he was 
the first prince, who, after the subversion of the 
Roman empire, made any attempt for the revival 
of letters and the advancement of commerce in the 
west of Europe: that, although in an age of uni- 
versal darkness and ignorance the efforts of one sin- 
gle monarch could make but little progress towards 
the attainment of objects so desirable, he first gave 
an impulse, of which the operation never after 
entirely ceased; and that his institutions eventually 
contributed, perhaps in a greater degree than is 
generally imagined, to the civilization of this quar- 
ter of the globe. 

1 7. You have now, my dear Sir, had the plea- 
sure of contemplating the most splendid period of 



36 LETf ERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

French history. You have seen dazzling achiev- 
ments and important events passing in review be- 
fore your eyes, and had an opportunity of observing 
how great a change the abihties of a single indivi- 
dual, placed in a particular situation, and in con- 
tact with favourable circumstances, may sometimes 
effect in the state of the world. The character of 
Charlemagne has undoubtedly attracted your at- 
tention and excited your admiration. And his 
reign, distinguished by the exaltation of the see of 
Rome, the revival of the Western empire, the con- 
quest and conversion of Germany, the foundation 
of a number of cities and bishoprics, and the esta- 
blishment of a new political system in Europe, 
affords ample scope for reflection. ^"^I shall for the 
present leave you to revolve these things in your 
mind and fix them in your memory, while I pre- 
pare materials for our further correspondence; and 
presume that you will believe me when I say, that, 
with the most sincere respect and esteem, 

I remain, dear sir, 
Your's &c. 

QTTESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — Whose son was Pepin, king of France.^ 

In what year did he ascend the throne.^ 
2. — Who laid the foundation of the temporal power of the 

Popes? 
3 — Over what enemies was Pepin victorious.^ 

In what year did Pepin die.*^ 

Why was hesurnamed "the Short?" 
4. — By whom was Pepin succeeded? 

Where did Charlemagne defeat the Saxons? 

Who conquered the kingdom of the Lombardsr' 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 3r 

In what year was it conquered? / ' * 
How long had it subsisted? T\ 

5. — Where did the famous Rowland fall in battle? 

6. ^ : : : 

T. — Who were the most darins: enemies thatCharlemaj2;ne 
ever encountered? 
Who was their leader? 

How did Charlemagne dispose of the Saxons? 
.When did Charlemagne conquer Austria, Hungary, 

&c. 
W'hat countries composed Charlemagne's dominions? 
8. — On what day, and in what year, was Charlemagne 

crowned emperor of the Romans? 
9. — What were tiie Capitularies? 
10. — Into what political error di<l Charlemagne fall? 
1 1. — VMien did the Danes or Normans begin to be known 
by their depredations? 
Were the Danes and Normans the same people? 
What port was one of the chief stations for Charle- 
magne's fleet? 
12. — W^hen and where did Charlemagne die? 
What was his age? 
How long did he reign over France? How longovei* 

Italy? How long was he emperor? 
What was his character as a statesman? 
Why cannot we form a correct judgment of his mi- 
litary talents? 
W^ith wTiom may he be compared in this respect? 
13. — W^iat tone did Chailemagne assume in religious 
matters? 
Who founded several bishoprics in Germany? 
For what was Germany indebted to Charlemagne? 
14. — Who projected the junction of the Rhine and the 
Danube by canal? 
Who rebuilt Genoa and Florence? 
Who built Aix-La-Chapelle? 
15. — Can you describe the person of (.^harlemagne? 
Of what description were his manners? 
What was his ordinary dress? 
16. — What was the most interesting part of his character? 

E 



38 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

In what company did he delight? 
Who was Alcuin? Where was he born and educated? 
Where did Charlemagne establish schools? 
To what did his institutions eventually contribute? 
*17.-!-By what important events was his reign distinguish- 
ed? 



LETTER IV. 

Comprising a period of a hundred and seventy^ 
three years, from A, D. 814, to A. D, 987. 



Kings of France of the 
race of Charlemagne. 



Cotemporary 
emperors of 
the race of 
Charlemagne, 



Cotemporary 
kings of Eng. 
land. 



Lewis I. surnamed 


The same 


Egbert who 


the Debonnaire, 


Lewis the 


united the 


king of France 


Debonnaire. 


heptarchy, 


and emperor. 




A. D. 328 






Ethelwolf. 


Charles the Bald, 


Lotharius. 


Kthelwolf. 


king of France, 


Lewis the Ilr 


Ethelbald. 


A. D. 840. and 


Charles the 


Ethelbert. 


emperor, A. D. 


Bald. 


Ethelred. 


875. 




Alfred the 
Great. 


Lewis II. surnamed 


Lewis the 


Alfred the 


the Stammerer, 


Stammerer. 


Great. 


king of France, 






and emperor. 







LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



5.9 



Kings of France of the 
race of Charlemagne. 



Colemporury em- Cotemporary 



perors of the race 
of Charlemagne 



kings of Eng- 
land, 



Lewis III. and Carlo- 
man, divide France 



Charles the 
Fat. 



Alfred the 
Great. 



Charles the Fat, now Charles the 
king of France, and Fat. 

emperor. i 



Alfred 'the 
Great. 



Eudes and Charles the 
Fat, divide France. 

Charles III surnamed 
the simple. 



Rhodolf. 



Charles the Fat 
Arnold. 



Alfred the ^■ 
Great. 



Lewis IV. the 
last French 
emperor. 



Edward the 
Elder. 



Edward the El, 
Athelstan. 



Lewis IV. surnamed 
Transmarine. 



Lothaire. 



Athelstan. 
Edred. 



Ed w J. 
Edgar. 
Ed ward the 

Martyr. 
Ethel red II. 



Lewis V. surnamed 
the Slothful, the 
last king of France 
of the race of Char- 



lemagne. 




Ethel red IL 



40 LETTERS ON FREJfCH HISTORY. 



DEAR SIR, 

In resuming our correspondence, I shall 
in the first place observe, that the vast political 
iabrick erected by Charlemagne, required the vi" 
gilant superintendance of a monarch, endowed 
with his genius and spirit, in order to preserve it 
from dilapidation. But talents are not hereditary. 
In perusing my last letter, you were dazzled with 
die brilliancy of his achievements and the glories 
of his reign, but you will now^ perceive that the 
annals of his empire during almost two centuries 
after his death, are little more than a catalogue of 
crimes and calamities, a display of the weakness 
and incapacity of his successors, and a register of 
their misfortimes. 

1. Lewis the Debonnaire, son and successor of 
Charlemagne, had enjoyed the advantage of tlie 
best education that those dark ages could afford; 
but wanting his father's decision of character, he 
was incapable of weilding so weighty a sceptre as 
that which had fallen into his hand. The ostensi- 
ble zeal of Charlemagne, for the interests of reli- 
gion had greatly increased his power; but the ill 
judged piety of Lewis degraded his authority; for 
by occupying himself too much with the affairs of 
the church, and too little with those of the state, 
he incurred the hatred of the clergy, and lost the 
esteem of the laity. 

2. His greatest political error was the partition 
of his dominions, a system of which the disastrous^ 
consequences had, since the establishment of the 
French monarchy, been so often experienced. In 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, 41 

the third year of his reign, he made his eldest son, 
Lotharius his colleague in the empire and the king- 
dom of France, and created his two younger sons, 
Pepin and Lewis, kings of Acquitaine and Bavaria. 
This arrangement was the first source of dis- 
cord amongst the descendants of Charlemagne. 
The princes of that race, how nearly soever al- 
lied in consanguinity, soon began to be alienated 
from one another by the collision of their interests. 
Bernard, king of Italy, had already taken umbrage 
at the elevation of Louis the Debonnaire to the 
imperial dignity by Charlemagne, in preference to 
himself, who was the issue of the elclest son; and 
being further exasperated by the disposition which 
Lewis had made in favour of Lotharius, he resolv- 
ed to have recourse to arms. This determination 
however was fatal to the unfortunate prince. The 
emperor marched aga nst his nephew the king of 
Italy, took him prisoner, and caused him to be 
deprived of sight. Bernard died of this cruel 
operation, and the kingdom of Italy was re-united 
to France. 

3. The stings of conscience, however, or the 
necessity of conciliating the clergy, induced Lew- 
is to perform public penance for the murder of his 
nephew. This show of repentance, if it did not 
expiate his crime, gave great satisfaction to the 
prelates, who now^ being fully convinced of their 
ascendancy over the monarch, turned it ably to 
their own advantage. 

4. The emperor having espoused a second wife, 
Judith of Bavaria, that union proved the chief 
source of his future misfortunes. His new Qor» 

E 2 



42 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTOR\. 

sort brought him a son named Charles, aftervvarcb 
known by the surname of Bald. This prince hav- 
ing no share in the former division, obtained some 
provinces in the eastern part of France, which 
were dismembered from the dominions of his bro- 
thers. Lotharius, Pepin, and Lewis, offended at 
this new partition, accused the empress of a cri- 
minal correspondence with the count of Barcelo- 
na, and under the pretext of vindicating the ho- 
nour of their father ^formed a confederacy, and 
having stripped him of his dominions, shut both 
him and his consort up in a monastery. 1 The mu- 
tual jealousies of the three brothers and the haugh- 
tiness of Lotharius dissolved their union. I And 
in a general diet Lewis vv^as restored to the throncj 
Judith was replaced in her former situation; and 
Lotharius was excluded from his partnership in 
the empire. 

5. The emperor's three sons soon formed a 
new confederacy, and recommenced the war a- 
gainst their father. The unhappy emperor being 
deserted by his army, fell into the hands of his 
unnatural sons, by whom he was a second time 
deposed* They also caused him to be arraigned 
in an assembly of the states, and condemned to do 
penance for hfe. In consequence of this sentence, 
the unfortunate son and successor of the £creat and 
prosperous Charlemagne was divested of his im- 
perial robes, clothed in sackcloth and confined to 
a cloister. Judith was banished to Tortona, and 
young Charles was shut up in the monastery of 
Prum. But new dissentions amongst the three 
brothers occasioned another revolution, which res- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 43 

tored their father the erriperor to the throne, and 
the company of his consort. 

6. This monarch being now advanced in age, 
and growing infirm, made a new division of his 
dominions. Reassigned Italy to Lotharius, Ger- 
many and Bavaria to Lewis, Aquitaine to Pepin, 
and to Charles France and Burgundy. This ar- 
rangement gave fresh umbrage to the three eldest 
brothers: who on that account renewed the war 
against their father. Pepin died soon after its com- 
mencement; and the emperor disinheriting his two 
sons, annexed Aquitaine to the dominions of 
Charles; So flagrant an act of injustice excited 
the nobility of that kingdom to revolt; and the 
emperor marched an army into their country, in 
order to reduce them to obedience. In the mean- 
^vhile, Lewis, king of Bavaria and Germany, took 
this opportunity to seize on several towns belong- 
ing to his father, who found it necessary to march 
in person against the invader. 

7. The misfortunes of Lewis the Debonnaire 
were now drawing near to their termination. Be- 
ing already indisposed, and greatly shocked at the 
conduct of his unnatural sons, with whom he was 
obliged to be perpetually at war; a total eclipse of 
the sun, which happened during his march, struck 
him with a terror which operated fatally on a mind 
naturally weak, and still more enfeebled by super- 
stition and misfortunes. He regarded it as an 
omen of his approaching dissolution; as if Heaven 
had deemed it necessary to prognosticate the de- 
mise of a monarch so unfit to reign. The impres- 
sion, however, which it left on his mind, hasten- 



U LETTERS ON TRENCH HISTORY. 

ed the accomplishment of the prediction which su- 
perstition had suggested. At the end of about 
forty da} s he died of fasting and melancholy in ail 
island of the Rhine, near Mentz, on the 23d of 
June, A. D. 840, i in the sixtv-second year of his 
age, and the twenty-sixth ot his reigni which was 
as unhappy and inglorious ks that of his father had 
been splendid and prosperous. 

8. When we consider the importance which 
Charlemagne attached to the culture of intellect, 
we may presume that his sons were not uninstruct- 
ed in letters and science; and accordingly, Lewis 
the Debonnaire is represented by historians as a 
learned prince for the times in which he lived, and 
tokrably skilled in astronomy; : The terror with 
which he was affected by an eclipse appears incon- 
sistent with such a character; but it must be ob- 
served, that when the mind is enfeebled by su- 
perstition, or disordered by melancholy, the ima- 
gination is not always regulated by the under- 
standing. 

9. Lewis the Debonnaire was succeeded by his 
youngest soni Charles the Baldy in the kingdom of 
France, and by Lotharius in the imperial dignity. 
Lewis; their brother. Was at the satne time king 
of Bavaria. The extensive empire of Charle^ 
magne, split into different kingdoms, and divided 
amongst his descendants, soon began to exhibit a 
disgusting picture of their follies, their crimes and 
misfortunes. The sons of Lewis the Debonnaire 
turned against one another those arms which they 
had employed against their father. Community of 
interests and danger induced Charles the Bald, king 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 45 

of France, and Lewis king of Bavaria, to unite in 
opposing the ambition of Lotharius. At Fontenay 
in Burgundy, a battle was fought A. D. 841, be- 
tween the contending brothers, and few conflicts 
have been more bloody, as upwards of a hundred 
thousand men are said to have fallen in that ensan- 
guined field. Lotharius, and his nephew, young 
Pepin, who had joined him in order to assert his 
right to the kingdom of Aquitaine, were totally de- 
feated by Charles and Lewis But Lotharius hav- 
ing retired into Saxony, levied so formidable an ar- 
my that his two brothers thought it advisable to ter- 
minate the contest by negotiation. By the treaty 
v/hich was concluded, Lotharius was left in pos- 
session of the imperial dignity and the kingdom of 
Italy, with all the eastern part of France, or the 
country enclosed by the Rhine, the Meuse, the 
Rhone, and the Alps: Charles retained the whole 
of western France; and Lewis had all Germany, 
whence he is distinguished in history by the sur- 
name of Germanic, It will not be amiss in this 
place again to observe, that the boundaries of the 
different kingdoms, into which France was so of- 
ten divided by the descendants of Charlemagne as 
well as by those of Clovis, cannot now be ascer- 
tained by the best French historians; and conser 
quently that all designations of them are to be con 
sidered only as approximations to geographical 
precision. 

10. Charles the Bald being occupied in repel- 
ling the Normans, who had made inroads into 
France, was dispossessed of Aquitaine by his ne- 
phew Pepin; but this young prince was soon strip- 



45 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ped of his newly acquired possessions; and Charles 
ordered him to be shut up in the abbey of St. Me- 
dard at Soissons. In the following year Pepin 
made his escape and returned to Aquitaine, where 
he was made prisoner and sent to Charles, who 
ordered him into confinement at Senlis, and shut 
up his sons in monasteries. 

11. In the year 855; the emperor Lotharius 
died, after putting on the monastic habit in order 
to cover his sins and to make the world forget that 
he had treated his father with ingratitude and bar- 
barity; that he had persecuted his brothers, and that 
his ambition, and restless disposition, which nei- 
ther filial nor fraternal affection could restrain, had 
been the principal cause of almost all the misfor- 
tunes with which Europe had so long been afflict- 
ed. His son, Lewis II. succeeded him in the im- 
perial dignity and the kingdom of Italy. 

12. Charles the Bald, king of France, and Lew- 
is the Germanic, were now the only two sons of 
Lewis the Debonnaire that were left in existence; 
and they soon began to invade each other's domi- 
nions. But Charles recovered several places which 
Lewis had conquered; and at length a treaty of 
peace terminated a war in which neither party had 
gained any advantage. 

13. About this time, and several years after- 
wards, the Normans made frequent and terrible 
irruptions into the maritime provinces. These 
daring marauders often sailed up the Rhine, the 
Meuse, the Seine, and the Loire; and scarcely any 
part of France or the Netherlands, near the coast 
or the large rivers, escaped their ravages. In 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 4/ 

viewing cotemporary events it may not be amiss 
to observe, that in the year 867, the twenty sev- 
enth of the reign of Charles the Bald over France, 
the same people under the appellation of Danes, 
sailed up the Humber and Ouse, took the city of 
York, and established themselves in England. 

14. In consequence of the death of the emperor 
Lewis II. A. D. 875; Charles the Bald marched 
to Rome, and obtained the imperial crown, and 
the kingdom of Italy, notwithstanding the opposi- 
tion of his nephew Carloman, son of Lewis the 
Germanic, who founded his claim on his father's 
right of primogeniture. But Charles did not long 
enjoy his new dignity. On his march against his 
nephew, Carloman, who had levied a powerful army 
in order to support his pretensions, this monarch 
was poisoned by a Jew, his physician, and died at 
Brios, a small village at the foot of Mount Cenis, 
on the 6th of Oct. A. D. 877, iji the fifty-fifth year 
of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign over 
France, having possessed nearly two years the 
kingdom of Italy and the title of emperor. It is 
somewhat astonishing that history does not inform 
us whether the physician was punished, nor what 
was his motive for committing such a crime. 

15. The character of Charles the Bald may be 
estimated from the general tenor of his reign. 
The activity which he showed in obtaining the 
imperial crown, in prejudice to the right of his ne- 
phew, shows that he was not devoid of ambition, 
nor very scrupulous in regard to the means which 
he used for effecting his purposes. His reign, like 
that of his predecessor, is marked by the exaltation 



48 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

of the church and the nobility. Either from in- 
decision of character, or from the circumstances 
of the times, he was unable to maintain the rights 
of the crown against the usurpations of the papal 
see, and the encroachments of his own subjects; 
and he gave a deadly blow to the regal power by 
rendering public honours and offices hereditary. 
Some excuse however may be pleaded in favour of 
Charles, from the consideration that the turbulent 
reign of his predecessor, Lewis the Debonnaire, 
had thrown every thing into confusion. 

16. Charles the Bald was succeeded by his son 
Lewis, surnamed the Stammerer, who was obliged 
to purchase the crown at the price which the 
prelates and nobles imposed, granting privileges 
and emoluments to the former, and conferring on 
the latter, lands, offices, and honors. This prince 
died A. D. 879, at the age of about thirty- four, 
having reigned about eighteen months. He was 
succeeded in the imperial dignity by his cousin 
Carloman, son of Lewis the Germanic, and by his 
two sons Lewis and Carloman in the kingdom of 
France. 

17. Lewis and Carloman made a new partition 
of France, which they divided between them. 
These two kings continued in strict alliance; but 
they were constantly engaged in wars against other 
princes of their family, particularly against Lewis, 
the second son of Lewis the Germanic, to whom 
they were obliged to cede a considerable part of 
Lorrain. They were also greatly harrassed by the 
Normans, who desolated the maritime provinces of 
France and the Netherlands by repeated irruptions. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 49 

The death of Lewis III. without issue, in the 
year 882, left Carloman the undivided possession 
of the crown, which, at his death, A. D. 884, de» 
volved on Charles the Fat, youngest son of Lewis 
the Germanic. This prince having succeeded his 
brother, the emperor Carloman, A. D. 880, was 
already possessed of the imperial crown when he 
ascended the throne of France; but he was desti- 
tute of the firmness of mind and decision of cha- 
racter that were necessary for supporting so great 
a weight of empire in times so unsettled and tur- 
bulent. 

18. In the year 885, the Normans laid siege to 
the capital of France. The Parisians defended 
their city with the most undaunted resolution. 
Eudes, count of Paris, and Goslin the bishop, gain- 
ed immortal honour by their valour and patriotism. 
The siege had continued two years when Charles 
came at length to the relief of his capital, and made 
his appearance at Mont Martre with the whole mi- 
litary force of his dominions. But preferring a 
shameful negotiation to a doubtful conflict, he pur- 
chased their retreat v/ith money instead of forcing 
them to it by arms. Charles had never been res- 
pected; but this ignominious treaty entirely ruined 
his reputation. His subjects revolted, and he died 
without issue, A. D. 888, in a state of dereliction 
and obscurity. 

19. Charles the Fat was succeeded in the impe- 
rial dignity by Arnulf or Arnold, an illegitimate 
son of the emperor Carloman, and in the kingdom 
of France by Eudes, count of Paris, who had so 
greatly distinguished himself bv his vigorous de* 
F 



50 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

fence of that city when besieged by the Normans, 

20. Charles, surnamed the Simple, being son 
of Lewis the Stammerer, was the acknowledged 
heir of the family of Charlemagne; but his youth 
served as a pretext for setting aside his right of 
succession; and in an assembly of the prelates and 
nobles, Eudes was proclaimed and crowned king 
of France. But notwithstanding the courage and 
abilities of this prince, the kingdom still continued 
a theatre of contention. A powerful party arose 
in favour of Charles, which caused an intestine 
war. At length the two rival princes concluded a 
treaty, by which Charles kept possession of the 
provinces on the north of the Seine, and Eudes 
reigned over the rest of the kingdom. The war 
between them, however, was soon renewed; and 
Eudes died A. D. 898, in the forty-first year of 
his age, and the tenth of his reign, without being 
able to calm the disorders of the sate, which in- 
deed were too great to admit of a remedy. 

21. The elevation of Eudes was the first inter- 
ruption in the succession of the Carlovingian dy- 
nasty. This interruption; however, was only 
temporary. On the demise of that prince, Charles 
the Simple was left in possession of the whole 
kingdom, and held the sceptre of united France 
as legitimate heir of the house of Charlemagne, 
But the title of king was now only an empty sound 
and the crown an useless decoration, to which was 
attached no power. The nobles openly aspired to 
independence; the governors of provinces assu- 
med sovereign authority within the limits of their 
respective govern qients, and extorted from the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 51 

monarch the confirmation of their usurped powers 
for themselves and their heirs, on the easy condi- 
tion of an empty homage. Hence arose the so- 
vereignty of the dukes of Burgundy, Brittainy, 
Languedoc, the counts of Flanders, Champagne, 
&c. who were sovereigns in their respective terri- 
tories barely acknowledging their vassalage to the 
crown. From this cause, France soon began to 
be desolated by the wars which the nobles inces- 
santly waged one against another, and which the 
king was unable to prevent or repress. 

22. This state of royal weakness and aristocra- 
tical anarchy, afforded to the Normans an oppor- 
tunity of obtaining a permanent and legitimate set- 
tlement in France. For the space of a century 
they had harassed the maritime provinces by de- 
sultory inroads, and had recently established them- 
selves in a part of Neu stria, which from them de- 
rived the name of Normandy. The possession of 
that province opened to them a way into the inte- 
rior of France, and Paris was exposed to their in- 
sults. This deplorable situation of the kingdom 
induced Charles to conclude with the Normans a 
treaty of peace, in which he consented to give his 
daughter Giselle in marriage to Rollo their chief- 
tain, and to confirm him in the possession of Nor- 
mandy, with the title of duke, on condition that he 
should embrace Chnstianity, and acknowledge 
by homage the paramount jurisdiction of the 
French monarchs. This establishment of the Nor- 
mans in France, which took place A. D. 912, 
constitutes an epoch of great importance in the 
history of that kingdom, and must be considered 



52 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTGliY. 

as an event which has not had less influence on the 
affairs of England. 

23. The first results of this transaction exhibit 
in a striking manner the power of circumstances 
on human conduct, and the beneficial effects of 
Christianity. Rollo being firmly established in his 
new acquisitions, and having with his followers 
embraced the Christian religion, soon showed that 
his prudence v/as equal to his courage and enter- 
prising spirit. His strict administration of justice 
has rendered his name famous in history; and by 
bis encouragement of agriculture and industry, 
he enriched and embellished the country, which 
his arms had devastated. Thus a band of depre- 
dators became good citizens,, and their leader one 
of the most prudent princes and legislators of the 
age. 

24. The same year, 912, is marked by the death 
of Lewis IV, the last emperor of the race of 
Charlemagne. The imperial crown ought, by 
right of succession, to have devolved on Charles 
the Simple; but that prince whose power was al- 
most annihilated by the usurpations of the nobili- 
ty, found himself unable to assert his claim to the 
empire. Conrad, duke of Franconia, was elected 
emperor by the nobles of Germany: the imperial' 
dignity was thus wrested from the posterity of 
Charlemagne, and for ever separated from the 
crown of France. 

25. Charles the Simple was, in the latter part 
of his reign, extremely unfortunate. Robert, bro- 
ther of Eudes the late king, having formed a pow- 
erful party, assumed the regal title and was crown- 



Letters on French history. 33 

cd at Rheims. Charles marched against him, and 
a battle ensued, in which Robert was killed, al- 
though his army was victorious. Charles being 
defeated, fled for shelter to Herbert, count of Ver- 
mandois, who confined him in the castle of Pe- 
ronne, where he died A. D. 929. His consort 
made her escape into England, where she was 
kindly recei'^'cd by her brother king Athelstan. 
Her son Lewis, by whom she was acconl^Danied, 
was: from this expatriation beyond sea, surnamed 
the "Transmarine." 

26. On the imprisonment of Charles the Sim- 
ple, a second interruption took place in the Car- 
lovingian succession. Rhodolph, duke of Bur- 
gundy, was elected king, and was crowned at 
Soissons. This prince, in order to procure his 
election, distributed a great part of the crown lands 
amongst the nobility, and reduced the royal de- 
mesnes within as narrow limits as the regal autho- 
rity. During the reign of Rhodolph, France was 
a scene of anarchy. This prince died without is- 
sue, A. D. 936, in the eighth year of a trouble- 
some and turbulent reign. 

27. Hugh, duke of Burgundy, count of Paris 
and Orleans, surnamed the Great, was the richest 
and most powerful of all the French lords, and 
possessed an authority nearly similar to that of 
Pepin D'Heristal, and Charles Martel, under the 
last Merovingian kings. Like them, however, 
he contented himself with possessing the supreme 
power, and instead of assuming the regal title, he 
called Lewis the Transmarine out of England, and 
placed him on the throne. 

F 2 ' 



54 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

28. The family of Charlemagne was thus a se* 
cond time restored to the throne oi France. But 
the reign of Lewis the Transmarine was as turbu- 
lent and anarchical as those of his predecessors. 
In a war with the revolted nobles, he was unsuc- 
cessful; but was saved from ruin by the mediation 
of the pope. A rupture afterwards taking place 
between Lewis and Hugh the Great, count of Pa- 
ris, th^king was taken prisoner by that nobleman, 
and was liberated only on such conditions as the 
victor thought fit to impose. This prince died of 
a fall from his horse, A. D. 954, in the eighteenth 
year of his reign. 

29. Lewis the Transmarine was succeeded by 
his eldest son Lothaire, who reigned under the 
protection of Hugh the Great. That nobleman, 
indeed, possessed the whole authority and power 
of the state, while the king was only a pageant of 
royalty. Hugh the Great died A. D. 956, when 
there was only one step between him and the 
throne. This reign is not marked by any consi- 
derable events; but it w^as a scene of continual 
wars amongst the nobles: the royal demesne being 
reduced almost to the single town of Laon, the 
king was not able to take any part in the contests 
of his vassals, many of w^hom were more powerful 
than himself. Lothaire, however, is represented 
as a prince of considerable abilities and great per- 
sonal courage; but it was become impossible tq 
retrieve the affairs of the kingdom, which had now 
fallen into so great disorder as not to admit of a 
remedy, except that which the lapse of ages, and 
the gradual progress of civilization, was at length 
to afford. 



LETTERS ON FRF.XCH HISTORY, SS 

30. Lothaire died of poison, A. D. 985, at 
the age of forty-five, and in the thirtieth or thir- 
ty-first year of a nominal reign. He was suc- 
ceeded by his son Lewis V. who, hke his father, 
was removed from the world by poison, after hav- 
ing reigned Uttle more than one year. Charles, 
duke of Lorrain, son of Lewis the Transmarine, 
was the legitimate heir, but the descend ents of 
Charlemange had now fallen into contempt; and 
Hugh Capet, duke or count of Pans, and son of 
Hugh the Great, seized the throne. 

3L You have now, my dear sir, seen pass in 
review the family of Charlemange, which exhi- 
bits the same picture as the posterity of Clovis. 
In both these races of kings, /the frequent parti- 
tions of their dominions gave the first fatal blow to 
their power.\ The contentions between the diiFer- 
ent branches of each family increased the strength 
of the nobles, and weakened the royal authority. 
During the reigns of the last kings of the second 
race, the family of Hugh the Great, count of 
Paris, possessed the same power as the mayors of 
the palace under the Merovingian dynasty, and the 
conduct of Pepin was the prototype of that of 
Hugh Capet. 

32. It was under the kings of the race of Char- 
lemange, that the aristocratical power, which was 
equally hostile both to the royal prerogative and to 
the liberties of the people, attained to its greatest 
height. The origin of the feu del system is ob- 
scured by the lapse of time, and the ignorance of 
unlettered ages. Some authors think tliat they can 
discover traces of its existence amongst the German 



JTd LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV; 

nations, before their subversion of the Roman em- 
pire; and, indeed, their universal adoption of that 
system, at least hi an imperfect form, soon after 
their establishment, in the Roman provinces, affords 
a presumption that it had, in some degree, existed 
amongst them before they passed the limits of their 
own country. 

33. The feudal system, considered in its rise, its 
progress, and its decline, has afforded matter for 
many and long dissertations. But any discussion 
of a subject so abstruse, so instricate, and so com- 
plex, vi^oald be inconsistent with the plan of a short 
and familar epistolary corrospondence, and but 
little interesting to a juvenile mind. It wall not, 
however, be amiss to observe, that all systems of 
goverment and civil polity derive their origin from 
the circumstances in which men are placed in dif- 
ferent countries and in different periods of time. 
Amongst absolute savages, a perfect equality reigns; 
for as there is no distinct title to property, there is 
nothing that can produce a distinction of rank. 
Bodily strength and dexterity, with some sort of 
cunning in stratagem, can alone give to one man 
any ascendancy over another; and amongst isolated 
individuals or families, even this kind of superiority 
is exceedingly loose and precarious, and is per- 
ceptible only when the inferior happens to come 
into contact with the superior. But as soon as 
savages are united in tribes, the superiority arising 
from personal qualities becomes more 'perceptible 
and permanent, although not hereditary. When 
lands are divided and appropriated, and the inha- 
bitants of any country have taken the first steps 



LETTERS ON PKENCH HISTORY. ^7 

towards civilization, individuals find various means 
of acquiring wealth; and wealth is always accom- 
panied by influence. It is then that the general 
scramble for property and power begins, which 
amongst semi-civilized nations is always productive 
of confusion. Those who by their abilities or good 
fortune have raised themselves above the mass of 
the people, make it their first care to preserve and 
perpetuate the superiority which they have ac- 
quired; and thus we may discover the origin of he- 
reditary ranks and distinctions, and the accumula- 
tion of riches, influence, and power in certain for- 
tunate families. In this state we find almost eve- 
ry nation in the first period of its history — the 
higher classes in possession of every thing — the 
lower, abject, poor, and depressed, and consider- 
ed as nothing in the community, unless it were as 
slaves to labour for the grandees, or as soldiers to 
fight their battles; and here we may perceive the 
stamina of that which, in most countries, arose in 
process of time to a complete feudal system, which 
sanctioned the licentious liberty of a few hundreds 
and confirmed their authority over millions of 
slaves. The government of all the nations which 
established themselves on the ruins of the Roman 
empire was monarchical; and the next step of the 
nobles, after having completely depressed the peo- 
ple, was to render themselves as much as possible 
independent of the sovereign. From this source 
originated innumerable scenes of contest, of which 
the issue was various in different countries and in 
different periods of time. Princes who possessed 
great political and military talents, seconded by 



aiS LEtTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

favorable circumstances, sometimes established a 
despotism on the ruins of the aristocracy; but tin. 
der weak and unenterprising monarchs, the no- 
bles almost always triumphed over the crown. 

34. This was the case in France under the last 
kings of the race of Charlemagne. Every province 
being seized by some powerful nobleman, the 
whole kingdom was divided into separate provin- 
ces, only nominally dependent on the crown. No 
state of civil society could be more anarchical and 
unhappy than that which France then displayed. 
The nobles waged continual wars amongst them- 
selves, while the king, without power, and almost 
entirely deprived of his dominions, could do noth- 
ing to curb the ambition of those who called them- 
selves his vassals, but totally disregarded his au- 
thority. The system of usurpation and oppres- 
sion descended from superior to inferior in a long 
train of feudal subordination. The possessor of 
a single castle or petty district, while he paid hom- 
age as a vassal to the usurper of a province, sicted 
as a sovereign over his own dependants; and the 
great mass of the people was reduced to a state o 
absolute servitude, or to a condition so precarioui 
and wretched, that the few who possessed freedon^ 
were glad to exchange it for protection, in an agt 
when all law but that of force was extinct.' 

35. In making an enquiry into the state of lite- 
rature and science during those early periods o\ 
French history; you will, my dear sir, recollect 
what I have mentioned in my second letter, that at 
the accession of Clovis, learning flourished in Gaul 
and that the Latin was the vulgar language of the 



LETTERS 0N FRENCH HISTORY. 59 

country. But under the successors of that prince, 
literature greatly dechned; the Latin tongue be- 
came gradually corrupted, and before the end of the 
Merovingian dynasty it ceased to be the common 
language of France. It was succeeded by the 
Romance language, which was a mixture of the 
Frankish dialect with bad Latin, and this was 
the language of France in the reign of 'Charle- 
magne, )and in those of his descendants; and in- 
deed, ^vith many and gradual variations, for seve- 
ral centuries afterwards. It was not until the reign 
of Lewis Xin. and the ministry of Cardinal Riche- 
lieu, that it began to be transmuted into the mo- 
dern French by those refinements which have 
rendered it the language of general communica- 
tion between princes and nobles of the different 
countries of Europe. 

36. You cannot, my dear Sir, have forgotten 
the efforts of Charlemagne for the revival of learn- 
ing in his dominions. But the state of things un- 
der his successors was unfavorable to the opera- 
tion of means so well adapted to the end which he 
designed; and after the death of that celebrated 
monarch, the mists of ignorance, accompanying 
the evils of anarchy, set in as dense as before, and 
obscured literature, sciences, and civilization in 

•^ the universal gloom. The president Renault, 
speaking of the period in which the Carlovingian 
dynasty ended, \ and Hugh Capet ascended the 
throne of France, says, '* This was the age of ig- 

' norance: so profound it was, that scarcely did 
kings, princes, and lords, much less the common 

^ people, know how to read. '' And hence, in a great 



60 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

measure, arose the influence which the clergy be- 
gan to acquire in temporal affairs, as they were 
the only persons that had any knowledge of let- 
ters. 

37. Arts and commerce were not in a more 
flourishing state than science and literature. It is 
not to be supposed, that any arts except those of 
necessity should be cultivated in so confused and 
turbulent a state of society: audit was impossible 
that commerce should raise its head, when the 
government and laws ecu id afford so little protec- 
tion either to persons or property. The people 
were therefore exceedingly poor as well as depres- 
sed. It is worthy oi remark, that Charlemagne's 
conquest of Germany tended rather to the impov- 
erishment than to the enriching of France, as the 
support of armies and garrisons, and the founda- 
tion of cities and bishoprics in a country which 
had no wealth of its own, must have caused an ex- 
penditure which could be supplied only from more 
opulent regions. The disorders which took place 
under the successors of that monarch, could not 
fail of increasing the national poverty. Tht- re- 
peated depredations of the Normans carried off a 
considerable portion of the wealth already amass - 
edi and the almost total annihilation of agriculture 
and commerce in many parts of the country must 
have prevented any new accumulations. From 
these considerations it appears extremely proba^ 
ble,that in the reigns of the latter kings of the race 
of Charlemagne, France possessed a less portion 
of wealth than under the Merovingian dynast} . 

38. You will now, my dear sir, endeavo* to 
form in your mind a picture of the state of socie- 



LETTERS ON FftENCH HISTOltY. H 

ty at the period under consideration/ an usurping 
nobility — an encroaching priesthood — the people 
without liberty or legal protection — the whole na» 
tion, excepting the clergy, illiterate — cities and 
towns ill built and unpaved — baronial castles of 
clumsy and ponderous architecture, without either 
elegance or conveniency, the seats of rapine, re- 
bellion, and revelry — agriculture and commerce 
depressed — arts and sciences almost annihilated. 
These are the prominent features: imagination will 
easily fill up the outlines. ) 

39. But you will at the same time bear in mind 
that this picture of the state of things in the tenth 
century does not belong peculiarly to France:' with 
the admission of some trifling shades of difference, 
it exhibits the condition of all the nations of Europe 
in those times of wretchedness and ignorance, ex- 
cepting the Arabians of Spain, amongst whom, 
arts, sciences, letters, manufactures and com- 
merce formed a striking contrast to the barbarism 
of their neighbours. While you peruse and 
examine these narratives and descriptions of a 
gloomy but yet interesting period, you will not 
forget that, with every wish for your health and 
happiness, 

I am, dear sir, 

Your's &c. 



62 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

QUESTIONS FOR EX AGNATION. 

1. — -Who was the successor of Charlemagne? 
2. — What was the great political error of Lewis the De- 
bonnaire? 

4.— What caused the first quarrel between Lewis and 
his sons? 
How did Lotharius, Pepin, and Lewis, treat their 

father? 
What dissolved their confederacy? 
5. — How did the three brothers again treat their father? 
6. — What was the cause of the third war between Lewis 

the Debonnaire and his sons? 
7, — Where, and in what year, did Lewis the Debonnaire 
die? 
AVhat was the character of his reign? 
8. — What was the character of Lewis the Debonnaire? 
9.— Who were his successors? 

In what year was the battle of Fontenaj^^ 
WHio were the contending parties in that conflict? 
How did the sons of Lewis the Debonnaire divide 
their dominions? 

to.— '^ 

11. — In what year did the emperor Lotharius die? 

12.— 1 ; ^ — 

13. — By what rivers did the Normans penetrate into 

France? 
14. — In what year did Charles the Bald obtain the imperi- 
al crown? 
In what year and in what manner did he die? 
15. — AVho first rendered public offices and honors here- 
ditary? 
What excuse mav be pleaded for the weak conduct 
of Charles the Bald? 
16. — Who succeeded Charles the Bald? 
17.__ ^ , 

18. — In what year, and in whose reign did the Normans 
besiege "Pa lis? 
How long did the siege continue? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 63 

In what year did Charles the Fatdie? 

19. — Who succeeded Charles the Fat.^ 

20. — In what manner did Eudes and Charles the Simple 
divide Frince? 

21.— When was Charles tlie Simple left in possession of 
the whole kingdom of France.'' 
In what reign did the nobles and governors of pro- 
vinces in France assume the sovereignty of their 
respective territories and governments.'^" 

22. — In what year did RoUo tlie Norman marry the daugh- 
ter of Charles, and establish the dukedom of Nor- 
mandy? 

'23. — What did the results of that transaction exhibit? 
WWat did Hollo become? 

24,r^Iu what year was the family of Charlemagne depriv- 
ed of the imperial dignity? 

'.25 — VVliere, and in whatyear,did Charles the Simple die? 

26. — Who succeciled Charles the Sitnple? 

27. — Who was Hugh the Great? What power did he pos- 
sess? 

28. — Of what description was the reign of Lewis the 
Transmarine.'^ 

29. — By whom was he succeeded.'* 

To what was the royal demesne reduced? 
What was the character of Lothaire.'' 

30. — By whom was he succeeded? 
Who seized the throne.'' 

:3l. — What gave the tirst blow to the regal power under 
the first and second race of kings.'' 

32. — When did the power of the nobility attain to its 
greatest height? 

33. pf-- 

34. V- \ \ . . U . 



35. — When did the Latin cease to be the i-ommon lan- 
guage of France? 
What was the Romance tongue? 
When was it the language oi' France? 
AVhen did the French language receive its principal 
refinement? 
o6. — When did princes and nobles scarce! v know how to 
read? 



6i LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

37. — Did the conquests of Charlemagne tend to enrich oi' 

to impoverish France.^ 
38.— Describe the state of society in the tenth century. 
39. — Does that description belong peculiarly to Frances* 



LETTER V. 

Comprising a period of seventy -three years ^ from 
A. D. 987, to A, D. 1060. 



Henry 1. 



Kings of France. 


Coteraporary kings of England, 


Hugh Capet. 


EthelredU. 


Robert. 


Ethel red II. 
Edmund Ironside, 



Canute the Great. 
Harold I. 
Hardycanute. 
Edward the Confessor. 
Canute the Great. 



DEAR SIR, 

MY present communication will be con- 
fined within narrow limits, as it comprises a sort 
of isolated period in the history of France, exhi- 
biting the establishment of a new dynasty upon the 
ruins of the family of Charlemagne; while the kingr 
dom, which had been broken into fragments, be- 
gan gradually to acquire something of form and 
consistence. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 65 

1. When Hugh Capet ascended the throne of 
France, A. D./987, the kingdom consisted of a 
monstrous assemblage of members without any 
compact body, the last kings of the Carlovingian 
dynasty possessing no more than the two cities of 
Laon and Rheims, while several of the vassals of 
the crown, such as the dukes of Burgundy, A- 
quitaine, and Normandy, the counts of Flanders; 
Champagne, &c. held the sovereignty of extensive 
provinces. 

2. This diminution of the regal power and au- 
thority was extremely favourable to the designs of 
Hugh Capet; but after he was seated on the throne 
the first maxim of his policy, was to strengthen the 
royal prerogative, and to weaken the aristocracy;; 
and similar views were adopted by all his succes- 
sors. It must here be observed, that although no 
measures could be immediately taken for effecting 
this purpose, Hugh Capet, by uniting his large 
fief of Paris and its extensive territory to the crown 
greatly increased the power of the kings of France, 

3. This prince, however, did not establish him- 
self on the throne without the opposition of a ri- 
val. Charles, duke of Lorrain, the legitimate 
heir of the house of Charlemagne, resolved to as- 
sert his right to the throne. His first operations 
were successful: he made himself master of Laon, 
and defeated Hugh in a battle fought near that 
place. But Hugh having retaken Laon, Charles 
was made prisoner; and his death the following 
year 992, put an end to the contest. Hugh Ca- 
pet, after passing the rest of his days in peace, died 

G 2 



66 LETTERS ON FREXCH HISTORY. 

A. D. 996, ill the fifty- sixth year of his age^ and 
the tenth of his reign. i 

4. Robert, the soii and successor of Hugh, is 
regarded by historians as one of the best princes 
that ever reigned over France. But his Hfe was 
hnbittered by an unfortunate dispute with the 
papal see, which, during the contentions of Char- 
lemagne's family, had acquired an exorbitant pow- 
er. Having espoused Bertha, his kinswoman, 
without a dispenation from Rome, the pope, Gre- 
gory the Fifth; resolved to annul the marriage, 
and issued an imperious decree, commanding Ro- 
bert to put away his wife, under the penalty of 
excommunication. The king* refused to obey, 
and the sentence of excommunication was in con- 
sequence published . Robert soon saw the impres- 
sion which the thunder!^ of Rome had made on the 
minds of his subjects. |^le w as abandoned by all 
his courtiers, and even the few domestics who 
staid to attend him, threw to the dogs all the vic- 
tuals that were left at his table, and purified by 
fire the dishes^ &c. in which they were served up, 
regarding as polluted and abominable every thing 
that had been touched by an excommtTnicated per- 
son. The king seeing himself an object of uni- 
versal abhorrence, and apprehending a general re- 
volt, was obligid to submit to the arbitrary decrees 
of papal tyranny, and to dismiss his consort. He 
afterwards espoused Gonstantia, daughter of the 
count of Provence, and spent the remainder of his 
days in peace. Robert died A. D. 1031, in the 
sixtieth year of his age, and the thirty- fifth of 
his reign. His disposition was humane, his mm- 



T!,ETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 6J^ 

Tiers were affable, and he was esteemed a learned 
prince, considering the ignorance of that age. 

5. Robert was succeeded by his son Henry I. 
the commencement of whose reign was disturbed 
by ^n unnatural rebellion, excited by/Iiis mother 
Constantia,; who was desirous of placing his young- 
er brother Robert on the throne; and the nef irious 
project was supported by the counts of Cham- 
pagne and Flanders. In this emergency, Henry 
had recourse to Robert, Duke of Normandy, by 
whose aid he subdued the rebels. The king was 
not forgetful of this service. Robert dying in a 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, A. D. 1035, was suc- 
ceeded in the duchy of Normandy by his son Wil- 
liam, who was afterwards king of England, and 
surnamed the Conqueix)r. But his right was con- 
tested by several competitors; descendants of the 
former dukes of Normandy; and Henry; in grati- 
tude for the support which he had received from 
Robert,. assisted young William in subduing his 
opponents. Henry had several contests with his 
vassals, all of whom he reduced to obedience. 
He died A. D. 1060, in the fifty sixth year of his 
age, and the tenth of a prosperous but troublesome 
reign. 

6. In reviewing this short period, which is cer- 
tainly the least interesting that is found in the 
French annals, you will observe at least one re» 
markable circumstance:^ jduring the space of se- 
venty three years, ^ France was never engaged in a 
contest with any foreign power. / The first French 
kings of the third race appear to have been almost 
solely employed in introducing order into the state. 



ti^ LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

by gradually and almost imperceptibly diminishing 
the power of the aristocracy. 

7. In comparing the history of France with that 
of your own country, you will, my dear sir, make 
another important observation. .You will per- 
ceive, that in England the power of the nobles ne- 
ver rose to so great a height as in France. The 
state of the people during the feudal ages was 
nearly the same in both countries, and indeed in 
almost all parts of Europe, poor, abject and op- 
pressed; but in France the aristocracy was far 
more formidable to the crown than in England. 
I shall for the present conclude by promising you 
a longer and more interesting letter, presenting to 
your view a period marked by more brilliant tran- 
saotions; in the meanwhile, 

I remain, dear sir, 

Your's, &c. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — In what year did Hugh Capet ascend the throne? 

2. — What was the first maxim of the policy of that prince 
and his successors? 

3. — How long did Hugh Capet reign? 

4. — How was king Robert treated by his domestics whea 
under sentence of excommunication? 

5.— -Who excited a rebellion against Henry I? 

6.— How long was France without a foreign war? 

7.— What was the difference of power between the no- 
bles of France and those of England? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



€9 



LETTER VL 



Comprising a period of one hundred and sixty- three 
years, from A. D 1060 to 1223. 

Kings of France. j Cotemporary Kings of England. 



Philip I. 


FMward the Confessor. 
Harold II. 

William the Conqueror. 
William Rufus. 
Henry I. 


Lewis VI. 
surnamed the Gross. 


Henry l. 
Stephen. 


Lewis VII. 
surnamed the Young. 


Stephen. 
Henry II. 


Philip II. 
surnamed Augustus. 


Henry III. 
Richard I. 
John. 
Henry III. 



DEAR SIR, 

ACCORDING to my promise, I now 
take the opportunity of resuming our historical 
correspondence. 

1. Philip I. succeeded his father Henry I. A. 
D. 1060; but being a minor only eight years of 
age, he was placed under the guardianship of Bald- 



70 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORt. 

win, count of Flanders, who, although esteemed 
a man of strict honor and great political sagacity, 
was induced by views of family interest to adopt 
a measure extremely prejudicial to France. He 
supported the claim of his son in-law, William, 
duke of Normandy, to the crown of England; and 
by permitting him to enlist soldiers hi France and 
Flanders, contributed in no small degree to place 
him on the throne of that kingdom. Nothing 
could have been more contrary to the interests of 
France than this event, which rendered the vassal 
more powerful than his liege lord. From this 
time, the dukes of Normandy possessing the 
crown of England, and having at their disposal the 
whole force of that kingdom, were often an over- 
match for the French monarchs, their paramount 
sovereigns. 

2. The character of Philip I. makes no distin- 
guished figure in the annals of royalty; but his 
reign is marked by an event which highly merits 
a place in the history of the human mind, as well 
as in that of France. This was the commence- 
ment of the Croisades, which exhibit so singular 
a display of religious and military enthusiasm, and 
form so conspicuous a trait in the picture of the 
middle ages. 

3. These romantic expeditions, which, afford- 
ing splendid themes to modern historians and 
poets, have been circumstantially related by Maim- 
bourg and Michaud, and sung in the most elo- 
quent strains by Tasso, originated from a propen- 
sity natural to the human mind, which contem- 
plates with emotions of delight and veneration 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTQRY ^1 

any place that has been the residence of some cele- 
brated personage, or the scene of some great trans- 
action. The warrior views with enthuiasm the 
fitid where some memorable victory has been 
gained: the admirer of Homer's Iliad is enraptur- 
ed in traversing the Troade, in tracmg the courses 
of the Simois and the Scamander, and in viewing 
the Rij)haean and Sigean promontories, where the 
mortal remains of Hector and Achilles are sup- 
posed to be deposited. 

Alexander the Great, as Plutarch informs us, 
placed a crown on the tomb of Achilles, and honor- 
ed his memory by the performance of solemn rites. 
It is, therefore, easy to conceive the impulse by 
which Christians, ever since the age of Constan- 
tine, or perhaps of the apostles, were prompted to 
visit with peculiar veneration those places which 
had been consecrated to pious recollection by be- 
ing the theatre of the actions and sufferings of the 
Redeemer. At a later period, w4ien the corrup- 
tions of Christianity had introduced works of su- 
pererogation as compensations for crimes, pilgrim- 
ages to Jerusalem became more frequent and fash- 
ionable: princes, prelates, and noblemen, from va- 
rious countries, crowded to visit the sepulchre of 
Christ, for the purpose of expiating their sins, 
and obtaining an increase of grace. 

4. After Jerusalem had fallen under the power 
of the caliphs, those Mahommedan princes, justly 
considering the continual resort of such a number 
of persons of rank and distinction as a source of 
wealth to their dominions, encouraged those Chris- 
tian pilgrimages; and under their enlightened go- 



72 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

vcrnment, the pilgrims not only met with protec- 
tion, but were treated with respect. But on the 
decline of the caliphate, the Turks, an uncivilized 
Tartar tribe, having become masters of Palestine, 
the Christians who visited Jerusalem were subject- 
ed to a variety of impositions and insults from their 
rapacity and barbarism. On this account the in- 
dignation of Europe was roused; and a grand ex- 
pedition for the recovery of the Holy Land from 
the nifidels was for some time in contemplation. 
At this juncture, a fanatical monk, a native of 
Amiens, and known by the name of Peter the Her- 
mit, a man of a daring and ardent mind, contribu- 
ted in no small degree to blow up the flame of en- 
thusiasm, which was ali-eady kindling in Chris- 
tendom. Having made the pilgrimage to Jerusa- 
lem, he was deeply affected by the distresses and 
dangers to which Christians were exposed in per- 
forming: that act of piety; and on his return he ran 
from province to province, with a crucifix in his 
hand, exhorting princes, nobles, and people to en- 
gage in the holy enterprise of recovering the se- 
pulchre of Christ from the hands of the infidels. 
5. The zeal and enthusiasm of Christendom be- 
ing thus roused by various incidents, a council 
was convoked at Clermont A. D. 1095, under the 
pontificate of Urban H. and almost all the great 
nobles as well as the prelates attended. Here the 
Croisade was resolved on, and the leaders were 
chosen. Godfrey de Bouillon was appointed ^com- 
mander- in-chief: Hugh, the king's brother; Robert 
duke of Normandy, brother of WiUiam Rufus, 
king of England; Raymond, count of Toulouse; 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 73 

Baldwin, count of Flanders; Stephen, count of 
Boulogne, father of Stephen, king of England; 
Boliemond, prince of Tarentum, and many others 
oi high rank, joined in the enterprise. Persons of 
every description flew to arms with an enthusias- 
tic ardor; the nobles with their martial folio A^'ers; 
ecclesiastics of every order, and vagabonds and 
desperadoes from every part of Christendom, were 
eager to engage in an expedition which they con- 
sidered as a propitiation for every crime, and by 
which they expected to acquire wealth and honor 
in this world, if they succeeded, or if they fell in 
the enterprise to receive a crown of glory in the 
world to come: an alternative flattering to avarice, 
ambition, and devotion. 

6. Incredible numbers having flocked to the 
standard of the cross, an undisciplined and disor- 
derly multitude, consisting of near 300,000 men, 
under the conduct of Peter the Hermit, set out for 
Constantinople, by the road of Bavaria, Austria, 
Hungary, and Bulgaria. These banditti being 
unprovided with the means oi subsistence in their 
long march, were under the necessity of pillaging 
the countries in the line of their route; and the 
sacred cause in wliich they were engaged, was in 
their eyes, sufficient to sanctify every crime. But 
the victims of their rapacity were of a dift'erent 
opinion. The people every where flew to arms 
to defend their property; and almost exterminated 
this numerous horde of depredators. Peter, with 
about twenty thousand of these fanatics, at length 
reached Constantinople, where he was joined by 
other bands of German and Italian desperadoes, 
H 



74 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

who abandoned themselves to every kind of licen- 
tiousness and disorder. The Eastern emperor, 
Alexius Comenus, made the greatest possible 
haste to get rid of these troublesome visitors, by 
furnishing them with boats for passing the Bos- 
phorus. This disorderly crowd, advancing into 
Asia, was attacked by the sultan of Nice, and al- 
most exterminated; but their conductor, Peter the 
Hermit, escaped from the slaughter, and found his 
way back to Constantinople. 

7. At length, in the year 1097, the regular ar- 
mies of the croisaders arrived at the capital of the 
Eastern empire, in such numbers, as although they 
have undoubtedly been much exaggerated by 
some historians, were sufficiently great to autho- 
rise the elegant expression of the princess Anna 
Commena in her "Alexiad," ^'Europe seemed to 
be loosened from its foundations, and to precipi- 
tate itself upon Asia." The Greek emperor, 
astonished and alarmed by the presence of such 
an overwhelming inundation of foreign vvaniors, 
endeavored to conciliate them by presents and 
promises; and at last got rid of these unwelcome 
guests, as he had done of the former, by supply- 
ing them with provisions, and facilitating, as 
speedily as possible, their passage across the Bos- 
phorus. 

8. The croisaders, advancing into Asia, took 
Nice, after repeatedly defeating the sultan. They 
then proceeded to Antioch, and made themselves 
masters of that city, after a desperate siege. The 
champions of the cross, although epidemical dis- 
eases, produced by intemperance, in conjuction 



LETTEllS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 75 

with the influence of a new climate, had greatly di- 
minished their numbers, advanced at last to Jeru- 
salem, the grand object of their enterprise. After 
a murderous siege of five weeks, the holy city 
was taken by assault on Good Friday, A.D. 1099; 
the garrison and the inhabitants were indiscrimi- 
nately put to the sword; and more than seventy 
thousand Mahommedans are Said to have perish- 
ed in this horrible massacre. The streets of Je- 
rusalem were covered with heaps of slain, and 
streamed with torrents of blood, when these fero- 
cious w^arriors, laying aside their ensanguined 
arms, proceeded, barefoot and on their bended 
knees, to the sepulchre of the Redeemer, and, 
after gluttinp; their fury with the blood of their 
fellow mortals, sung anthems of joy and thanks- 
giving to the God of mercy and peace. Such is 
the power of fanaticism in perverting the influ- 
ence of religion and stifling the feelings of hu- 
manity!!! Inconsequence of this success, God- 
frey Bouillon was elected king of Jerusalem: Bo- 
hemond had already been created prince of An- 
tioch; and several of the other leaders obtained 
splendid settlements in Asia. 

9. While the French croisaders were display- 
ing their romantic valor in Syria, their country 
presented at home a chaos of confusion, in which 
no trait of grandeur could be distinguished. — 
Philip I. having repudiated his queen, and married 
the countess of Anjou, whom he had seduced 
from her husband, was excommunicated by pope 
Urban II; and the thunders of the church, to- 
gether with his own indolence, entire! v ruined his 



76 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

authority. The nobles insulted him daily, and 
plundered the subjects of his domain, which con- 
sisted only of the dukedom of France, comprising 
the city of Paris, with a few other towns and their 
adjacent territories: all the rest of the kingdom 
was held by the vassals of the crown, who actc^d 
as sovereigns in their respective districts, and by 
their turbulence had almost reduced France to a 
state of anarchy similar to that which it had ex- 
iiibited under the last kings of the Carlovingian 
dynasty. 

10. In order to remedy these evils, the king 
associated his son Lewis to the regal dignity; and 
the vigour and activity of the young prince, by 
curbing the turbulence of the nobles, restored 
something of order to the state. But Philip I. 
committed one irretrievable error — that of not 
supporting Robert, duke of Normandy, against 
his brother Henry I. king of England. By suffer- 
ing that prince to be crushed at the battle of 
Tinchebray, he lost the opportunity of keeping 
the duchy of Normandy separate from the crown 
of England, an object of the greatest importance 
to France. Philip died A. D. 1108, in the fifty - 
seventh year of his age, and the forty-ninth of an 
inglorious reign. 

1 1 . His son and successor, Lewis VL surnamed 
the Gross, ascended the throne at thirty years of 
age. The first part of his reign was agitated by 
contests with his vassals whom he at length, al- 
though not without difficulty, reduced to obe- 
dience. 

12. Before the conquest of England by Wil- 
liam, duke of Normandy, A. D. 1066, that king- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, TJ 

dom had never come into hostile contact with 
France. But soon after that event the first wars 
between the French and Enghsh commenced — 
an inevitableconsequence of the union of England 
and Normandy under one sovereign. For some 
time, however, these contests were of little impor- 
tance: and it was not until the reign of Lewis the 
Gross that they began to assume a more serious 
aspect. That prince engaged in three different 
wars with Henry I. of England; but all of them 
ended to his disadvantage. Desirous of repairing 
the damage which his father's bad policy had 
brought, and was still likely to bring upon France, 
he undertook to separate Normandy from England, 
by restoring William, the son of duke Robert, to 
the possession of that duchy. But it was now too 
late. Henry was grown too powerful to suffer 
Normandy to be wrested out of his hands. 

13. The reign of Lewis the Gross, however, 
was on the whole beneficial to France. By enfran- 
chising many villains or bondmen, and by gradu- 
ally diminishing the authority of the seignioral 
jurisdictions, he began to depress the exorbitant 
power of the nobles, and set an example of extend- 
ing the royal prerogative, and ameliorating the 
condition of the people; which was invariably fol- 
lowed by all his successors. This prince died A. 
D. 1137, in the sixtieth year of his age, and the 
twenty -ninth of his reign. 

14. His son and successor, Lewis VII, sur- 
named the Young, was only eighteen at his acces- 
sion. The nobles, whose pride had been humbled 
by his predecessor, took advantage of the youth of 

h2 



rS LETTEItS ON mENCtt HISTOUV, 

this prince, and m tide many attempts tt> recovei' 
their power and authority. During these contests 
between the crown and the aristocracy, Lewis, in 
order to be revenged of Thibaud, count of Cham- 
pagne, the most rebeUious of his vassals, destroy- 
ed the town of Vitri by fire, and put all to the 
sword. Thus, if we examine the annals of all 
nations and all ages, we shall find that the people 
are the chief sufferers by the contentions of the 
great; and are commonly sacrificed to their ambi- 
tion and resentment. 

15. Conscience, however, will, at one time of 
Other, make 'kings and conquerors listen to its re- 
proaches. Lewis was struck with remorse for 
this barbarous massacre, and, by the advice of St. 
Bernard, resolved to undertake a croisade, in order 
to expiate his crime. This measure was strongly 
opposed by Segur, abbot of St. Denis, who endea- 
voured to persuade the king that the best way of 
atoning for his sins, was to stay at home and govern 
well his dominions. But the counsels of St. Ber- 
nard were always received as inspirations from 
Heaven, and indeed his transcendant eloquence 
appears to have been irresistible. *'It was," says 
the president Henault, "the peculiar talent of this 
extraordinary man to sway the human mind with 
an irresistible power. Conforming himself with 
admirable facility to every variety of scenes and 
circumstances, one moment concealing himself in 
the recesses of his solitude, and the next shining 
amidst the splendour of a court, he never was out 
of his ^lace; and although only a poor morik df 
Glairvaux, without any title or public character. 



^LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 79 

tie 'derived from his personal talents a degree of 
power superior to all regular authority." 'I'he 
same writer has also drawn the following ix^rtrait 
of the abbot Segur. **He was a man of low ex- 
traction and of mean appearartce; but the qualities 
of his mind compensated the defects of birth and 
exterior. The church has not given him a place 
in her calendar; but his name will be immortal in 
hislory. From the humble condition of a private 
monk, his virtues and abilities raised him to the 
rank of abbot o-f St. Denis, and principal minister 
of state. In his abbey, was conducted the business 
of the court and the army: the cloister was fre- 
quently crowded with soldiers, and resounded with 
the debates of courtiers and lawyers." In con- 
trasting the characters of these two celebrated men, 
illustrious ornaments of a dark and ignorant age, 
it appears that the abbot Segur was greatly supe- 
rior in sound judgment and political sagacity; but 
St. Bernard possessed an irresyistible eloquence, 
together with all the learning of the times. The 
former was regarded as a consummate statesman: 
the latter was regarded as a saint, and consulted as 
an oracle. 

16. With such a reputation, and such extraor- 
dinary powers of elocution, joined to a daring and 
ardent enthusiasm, Bernard found it no difficult 
task to excite the king to undertake a croisade, 
especially as these romantic expeditions wereper- 
fedtly m unison with the spirit of the times. Hisen* 
thusiastic eloquence produced the same effects in 
Germany as in 'France. The emperor, Conrad III. 
with an incredible number of persons of aftl ranks, 



8« LETTERS ON FBENCH HISTORY. 

took the cross A. D. 1147, and led a formidable 
army into Asia, and the king of France soon after fol- 
lowed with a force of eighty thousand men Had 
these armies been conducted with prudence and 
acted in concert, their numbers were sufficient to 
have secured success. But the same excesses 
which had disgraced the first croisade were re- 
peated in the second, and the want of union as 
well as of judgment in their plans and operations 
totally frustrated the enterprise. Conrad havmg 
first crossed the Bosphorus, penetrated into the 
middle of Asia Minor, where the greatest part of 
his army was cut to pieces in the defiles of the 
mountains. Lewis fell into the same snare the 
following year; and thus by a series of misconduct 
these formidable armaments were almo.'it annihila- 
ted. The French monarch as well as the empe- 
ror returned w^ith the shattered remains of a once 
powerful force; and a number of families poured 
out their invectives against St. Bernard, whose se- 
ductive eloquence and delusive prophecies, prom- 
ising them not only tbe pardon of their sins, but 
also victory over the infidels; had induced them to 
engage in this disastrous enterprise. But that ac- 
complished orator and acute logician dexterously 
cleared himself of the charge of falsehood or error, 
by declaring that the immorality and misconduct 
of the croisaders had occasioned their misfortunes, 
as the sins of the Israelites retarded their entrance 
into the promised land, and doomed a whole ge- 
neration to die in the wilderness. St. Bernard cer- 
tainly was not far wrong in his assertionj but while 
he assumed the character of a prophet, ought he not 



LETTERS ON Fl?ENCH HISTORY. 81 

to have foreseen this mismanagement and its dis- 
astrous results? 

17. This unsuccessful croisade gave rise to a 
circumstance of a domestic nature, which proved 
a source of uneasiness to Lewis and of injury to his 
kingdom. His queen Eleanor had accompanied 
him in his expedition; and it appears, that amidst 
the horrors of war, she had not been insensible to 
the pleasures of love. Lewis strongly suspected 
her of an amorous intrigue with the prince of An- 
tioch, and also with a young Turk named Sala- 
din. In consequence of this suspicion, he obtain- 
ed a divorce, and Eleanor being left in possession 
of the provinces of Poictou and Guienne, which 
were her patrimony, was soon after married to 
Henry, duke of Normandy, count of Anjou and 
Maine, and heir to the crown of England, to which 
he afterwards succeeded by the name of Henry IL 
This accession of territory gave to England a de- 
cided superiority over France. 

18. Notwithstanding the ill success which Lew- 
is had experienced, he meditated another croisade. 
But his subjects, grown wiser than himself, were 
tired of croisading; and when he intimated his in- 
tention, he found them so averse to any thing of 
the kind, that he was obliged to relinquish his pro- 
ject. This prince had several wars with Henry 
II. of England, which produced no important re- 
sults. The southern provinces of France were 
during a great part of his reign, a theatre of pri- 
vate wars amongst the powerful nobles, such as 
the counts of Toulouse, Provence, Montpellier, 
Narbonne, Carcassonne, &c. who, although vas- 



82 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

sals of the crown, paid little i cgard to the authori- 
ty of the king. Lewis the Young, died A. D. 
1180, in the sixty-second year of his age and for- 
ty-fourth of his reign, which was lai from being 
beneficial to France. /In regard to his character 
he possessed a great portion of courage, but was 
often deficient in policy: his religious ideas were 
somewhat tanatical, and he had an unconquerable 
propensity to croisades and pilgrimages^ When 
his subjects would not second his zeal for another 
Asiatic expedition, he endeavoured to gratily his 
taste by a devotional visit to the shrine of St, James 
of Compostella; and in the last year of his life he 
ma<le another to the tomb of St. Thomas of Can- 
terbury. 

i9v His son and successor, Philip Augustus, 
was one of the most politic and prosperous prin- 
ces that ever swayed the sceptre of France. At 
his accession, that kingdom possessed but little po- 
litical importance, v The kings of Fjrance were lit* 
tie more than sovereigns of Paris. %The king of 
England was in possession of Normandy, Bretagne, 
Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poictou, Saintonge, 
Angoumois, Limousin, Auvergne, Perigord and 
Guiennej^constituting almost the half of France: 
the rest of the provinces were divided amongst a 
number of powerful vassals, over whom the king 
held only a nominal sovereignty. In consequence 
of the annexation of Normandy to the crown of 
England, France was almost as much dismember- 
ed and depressed as under the successors of Clo- 
vis and Charlemai^ine. 

20. ^hilip Augustus began his reign by redu- 
cing to obedience the turbulent nobles, who being 



LEITERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 83 

constantly at war amongst themselves, were unable 
to make an effectual resistance to his operations, 
which were planned with prudence, and executed 
with promptitude and vigour, ^i He next display- 
ed his policy in supporting the sons ot Henry H. 
in their repeated rebellions against their father, by 
which he counterbalanced the power of that prince 
in France. He afterwards undertook in concert 
with Richard I. the croisade so lamous in English 
history. 

21. Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, hav- 
ing been defeated at the battle of l'i()eriad, A. D. 
1187,* this misfortune was followed by the loss of 
his Ccjpital, which was obliged to surrencU r to the 
infidels. The calamitous state of the Christians 
in the East, roused the zeal and ambition of the 
princes of Europe, to undertake another grand 
expedition for the recovery of the holy city and 
the emperor Frederic I. surnamed Barbarossa, set 
the example, and led an army of a hundred and 
fifty thousand men into Asia; but this monarch 
was unfortunately drowned in crossing the Cyd- 
nus, the river in which Alexander the Great had 
like to have lost his life by bathing. 

22. This catastrophe of the emperor did not 
restrain the ardour of the kings of England and 
France: their zeal was prompted by the spirit of 
chivalry and a thirst for military glory, which in- 
deed appears to have been the chief motives that 
induced them to attempt the conquest of Jerusa- 
lem. In the 3^ear 1191, the two monarchs under- 
took their grand expedition; but their mutual jea- 
lousies and distrusts prevented the attainment of 



84 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

its object. Philip and Richard mutually accused 
each other of being the cause of its failure; and the 
contradictory relations of the French and English 
historians tend rather to obscure than to illustrate 
the matter. 

'23. Philip being obliged by an ill state of health 
to return to France, ungenerously seized on part 
of the province of Normandy in the absence of 
Richard, whom he had left in Palestine. The 
splendid exploits of Richard and his subsequent 
misfortunes, are well known themes in English 
history. On being restored to his kingdom, he 
turned his arms against Philip but the war be- 
tween these two monarchs was not productive of 
any important results 

24. The disastrous reign of John, the succes- 
sor of Richard, was extremely conducive to the 
aggrandisement of Philip Augustus, who, seizing 
so favourable an opportunity, conquered all the 
English dominions on the continent, except the 
province of Guienne, and annexed them to the 
crown of France. 

25. About this time was undertaken the fourth 
croisade, which constitutes a brilliant episode in 
the history of France. Boniface of Montserrat 
had the chief command; and Baldwin, count of 
Flanders, Eudes, duke of Burgundy, with seve- 
ral others of the French nobility, joined in the ex- 
pedition. While these adventurers were at Ve- 
nice, waiting till the ships, which they borrowed 
to convey them to Asia, w^ere ready to sail, a revo- 
lution which had taken place at Constantinople, in- 
duced them to alter their destination, and proceed 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. S5 

to the capital of the East instead of Jerusalem, 
The Greek emperor Isaac Aiigelus had been de- 
posed, and deprived of sight, by his brother Alex- 
ius, who had placed himself on the imperial throne. 
In consequence of this horrible and distressing 
circumstance, the young Alexius, son of the de- 
throned emperor, Isaac Angelus having repaired 
to Venice, implored the aid of the French croisa- 
ders and the Venetian fleet against the usurper his 
uncle, seconding his solicitations with the most 
magnificent promises. The French and Vene- 
tians therefore set sail for Constantinople, A. D. 
1204, and soon after their arrival took the city 
by storm. Isaac Angelus was restored, but died 
soon after; and his son, the young Alexius ascend- 
ed the imperial throne. 

26. The croisaders now withdrew into canton- 
ments, expecting that the new emperor would ful- 
fil the stipulations of the treaty concluded previous 
to their departure from Venice. This, however, 
he was unable to perform. The French having 
been guilty of great excesses at the capture of Con- 
stantinople, the Greeks conceived an aversion 
against Alexius who had invited them into the 
country; and as soon as the foreigners had left the 
city; the inhabitants broke out into open revolt. 
Alexius Ducas, surnamed Murziphilus, from his 
large eye brows, a person of low extraction, but 
who had found means to raise himself to an eleva- 
ted station, appeared at the head of the rebels, and 
having seized the emperor and put him to death, 
placed himself on the throne. In consequence of 
this usurpation, the French army laid siege a se- 



86 LETTERS ON FRENCH mSTORY. 

cond time to Constantinople, and carried the city 
by assault, although the Greeks made a most de- 
termined resistance. On this occasion Henry 
Dondolo, duke or doge of Venice, signalized his 
courage in a very extraordinary manner. Al- 
though about ninety years of age and entirely blind, 
he caused himself to be led to the assault at the 
head of a body of Venetian troops, and was one 
of the first that ascended the rampart. The plun- 
der obtained by the croisaders at the sack of 
Constantinople exceeded in value that of any other 
city captured either before or since that time, 
except perhaps that of Delhi by Nadir Shah, A. 
D. 1739, and every individual of their army made 
his fortune. 

27. The French and Venetians elected Bald- 
win, count of Flanders, emperor of the East, on the 
second Sunday after Easter, A. D. 1204; and lay- 
ing aside all thoughts of the holy land, turned their 
whole attention to the preservation of their splendid 
conquest. Almost the whole empire submitted, 
and was parcelled out by the French into military 
fiefs, resembling those of their own country: most 
of the islands,and some of the sea ports, were assign 
ed to the Venetians. About fifty years afterwards 
the Greeks recovered Constantinople and expell- 
ed the Latins; but their empire never recovered its 
former pov/er, nor the imperial city its former 
wealth and splendour. 

28. Philip iVugustus derived no benefit from 
conquest achieved by liis subjects; but he pro- 
jected other schemes of aggrandizement. ^ His 
Views were not limited to the extinction of the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 87 

English power in France. In consequence of 
king John being excommunicated by the pope, 
and his kingdom being given to any prince that 
could seize it, PhiHp resolved to attempt the con- 
quest of England, and made vast preparations for 
that great enterprise. The submission of John to 
the holy see, induced the pope to lay his injunc- 
tions on Philip to desist from his undertaking. 
But the French monarch was not to be easily de- 
terred or dissuaded from the execution of a pro- 
ject so conformable to his views of aggrandize- 
ment. His fleet, however, had no sooner sailed 
from the mouth of the Seine, than it was defeated 
and almost entirely destroyed by the English. 

29. This loss was soon compensated by the 
most brilliant successes. Philip seized the terri- 
tories of the count of Flanders, who was favorable 
to England; and, at the battle of Bovines, A. D. 
1214, he gained with an army of fifty thousand 
men a decisive victory over the combined forces 
of the emperor Otho and his allies, consisting of 
more than three times that number. The cou- 
rage and conduct which Philip displayed in that 
battle procured him a high reputation as a military 
commander, and his victory gave to France com- 
plete security on the side of Germany. 

30. The destruction of his fleet, rather than any 
dread of the papal authority, had caused Philip 
Augustus to desist from his enterprise against En- 
gland. The distracted state of that kingdom, how- 
ever, soon afforded an opportunity of resuming 
his project. The barons having revolted against 
king John, offered the crown to Lewis, the son of 



88 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the French monarch; and Philip, resolving to avail 
himself of so favourable a circumstance, sent Lew- 
is with a strong force into England. The French 
prince met with a cordial reception, and was pro- 
claimed king at London. The sentence of excom- 
munication was issued against him by the pope; 
but Lewis was as little terrified at the thunders of 
Rome as his father, and resolved to persist in his 
enterprise. His aifairs continued to prosper, and 
he was master of nearly the whole kingdom when 
John died, A. D. 1216, his constitution being 
broken by a series of troubles and misfortunes. 
The resentment of the English against that mo- 
narch was extinguished by his death, and the 
greater part of the barons declared in favour of his 
son, Henry HI. The scales were now turned 
against Lewis: diat prince was besieged in Lon- 
don, and having obtained an honourable capitula- 
tion, was obliged to depart from England. This 
was the last important transaction in the reign of 
Philip Augustus. That monarch died A. D. 
1223, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and the 
forty.fourth of a prosperous and glorious reign. 

31. The character of Philip Augustus exhibits 
a mixture of splendid qualities and great vices. 
Prudent and artful, ambitious, valiant, and enter- 
prising, he possessed all the qualifications requisite 
for the cabinet or the camp; but he was intrigu- 
ing, treacherous, and unconscientious. He was 
the greatest political genius of his age, but he was 
never scrupulous concerning the means that he 
used for the attainment of his objects. It must 
however be acknowledged that he raised his king- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. fe) 

dom from a state of extreme depression to great 
power and importance. In fine, he was the most 
successful and fortunate prince that had swayed the 
sceptre of France since the reign of Charlemagne. 

32. You have now, my dear sir, arrived at a 
brilliant epoch in the history of France: and amidst 
the transactions of politics and war, you will con- 
template with delight some small progress in lite- 
rature, sciences, and arts. During the period 
now submitted to your consideration, especially 
the two last reigns of Lewis the Young, and Phi- 
lip Augustus, that dense cloud of ignorance and 
barbarism which had so long overshadowed France, 
as well as the other countries of Europe, began to 
disperse. 

33. The croisades, those romantic expeditions, 
of which the recollection astonishes the modern 
world, contributed in no small degree to the civi- 
lization of the western countries of Europe. The 
croisaders, in their way to Asia, had the opportu- 
nity of viewing Italy and the Eastern empire, coun- 
tries far superior to their own in arts, sciences, 
and magnificence. The French could not fail of 
observing that the Italians were a more polished 
people than themsdves, and the view of Constan- 
tinople struck them with astonishment. That 
metropolis of the Greek empire was then the chief 
seat of all that was splendid and superb in the 
world, and formed a striking contrast with the dir- 
ty and ill- built cities of France, England and Ger« 
many. The Saracens of Asia were also a far 
more polished people than the western Europeans, 
and possessed many arts of which tjie latter were 

I 2 



90 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ignorant. It was impossible that the croisaders' 
should see all these things, and not bring some of 
the arts of Constantinople and Asia into their own 
Countries . The western nations became ac- 
quainted with the manufacture and arts of the 
East; the sphere of European knowledge was en- 
larged, and commerce extended. Soon after the 
commencement of the croisades more splendour 
was seen in courts, greater magnificence in build- 
ings, more convenience and elegance in cities, and 
more politeness in manners; and as France had the 
principal concern in those expeditions, that coun- 
try derived from them the first and greatest advan- 
tages in regard to the arts and sciences: architec- 
ture, painting, and sculpture, began to emerge 
from oblivion. The cathedral of '*Notre Dame" 
at Paris, was rebuilt by Maurice de Sully, one of 
the greatest architects of that age: the great altar 
was finished in the year 1182, the second of Philip 
Augustus; and about the same time many other 
ecclesiastical edifices were erected in a style of 
Gothic magnificence. In the same reign or in that 
of Lewis the Young, the streets of Paris first be* 
gan to be paved; and that city was not only em- 
bellished, but also considerably enlarged. 
. 34. Literature and science generally accompa- 
ny the arts; for when the human mind has once 
cast off* its fetters, genius diffuses its radiance in 
various directions. The university of Paris is ge- 
nerally said to have been founded by Charlemagne, 
but this opinion is not supported by the evidence 
of any cotemporary writer. It is certyin, howev- 
er, that Charlemagne established a school in that 



IvETTERS ON FRENCH HlSTOliV. 91 

Gity, which gradually became famous for the learn- 
ed men it produced. But the best French histo- 
rians refer the origin of the university to the time 
of Lewis the Young, a period in which Abelard, 
Peter Lombard, St. Bernard, and Segur, abbot of 
St. Denis, shone forth like meteors through the 
gloom of an ignorant age. Paris, however, be- 
came towards the end of the reign of Lewis the 
Young, a celebrated seat of learning, being fre- 
quented by crowds of youth from all parts of Eu- 
rope. In the reign of Philip Augustus, and seve- 
ral of his successors, the students in the university 
equalled in number all the rest of the inhabitants 
of Paris, and composed a formidable body in ca- 
ses of tumult and insurrection. 

35. Besides the introduction of arts, and the 
advancement of knowledge, the croisades produc- 
ed another beneficial effect in France. Many of 
the nobles sold or mortgaged their lands in order 
to equip themselves for these expeditions; and the 
kings, or the dignified ecclesiastics, were gene- 
rally the mortgagees or the purchasers. Numbers 
also of the turbulent vassals fell in those wars; and 
many noble families becoming extinct, their fiefs 
reverted to the crown. Several cities and towns, 
by advancing money to their lords, purchased pri- 
vileges and immunities which greatly extended 
their liberties, and contributed to their future pros- 
perity. By these means, the importance of the 
commons, as well as the power of the crown was 
increased; and the feudal system, the worst of all 
species of civil economy, was considerably weak- 
ened. 



92 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

You will, my dear sir, undoubtedly regard these 
fanatical expeditions as contrary to the dictates of 
religion, humanity, and reason. But they were 
in unison with the spirit of the times, and public 
opinion and feeling are subject to endless revolu- 
tions. 

In those times, no one wondered at what now 
excites our astonishment. When we ridicule the 
ideas and views of former ages, let us bear in 
mind that future generations may regard some of 
ours as not less absurd. And when we condemn 
the croisades, let us seriously and impartially con- 
sider whether many of the wars of modern Europe 
have originated from better motives, or been pro- 
ductive of more beneficial effects. But in review- 
ing these romantic enterprises, another and most 
important consideration will force itself on your 
mind: you will readily perceive that the Divine 
Being who governs the world, from evil educes 
good, and renders the follies of men subservient 
to the designs of his inscrutable wisdom. I shall 
leave you amidst these interesting reflections, 
while I prepare for another communication: in the 
mean while be assured, that with the most ar- 
dent desire for your instruction, 

I am, dear sir, 

Your's &c. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — By whose permission did William, duke of Norman- 
dy enlist soldiers in France and Flanders? 
9. — 'In what reign did the Croisades commence? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 93 



4. — How were pilgrims treated by the caliphs? 
How were they treated by the 'I'urks? 
Who contributed to promote the Croisades? 
5. — Who was general of the first Croisade? 
6. — Who led the first body of the Croisaders? 
7. — Who was emperor of the East at that time? 
8. — When was Jerusalem taken? <' . J 
Who was elected king of Jerusalem? 

9. 

10. — What was the great error of Philip I? 

11. _ 

12. — When did the wars between England and France 

begin? ^ ^"f-^ f^ i- 
13. — What king of France began to repress the disobe- 
dience of the nobles.^^.- yj*iJ-f^.- .'^ ^ 

14. <--*^', **^ '^ '^' .( ; ';■■'' ' , . —^ ^ 

1 J.— What was the character of St. Bernard? 

V What was the character of Segur, abbot of St. Denis? 
What was the contrast between St. Bernard and the 
abbot? 
16. — Who prompted Lewis VIII. to undertake a Croi- 
sade? 

ir. __ ^ , 

18. — What was the character of Lewis VI L^ 

19. — What were the kings of France at the accession of 

Philip Augustus? 
What provinces of France were in the hands of the 

king of England? 
20. — How did Philip Augustus begin his reign? 
21. — What was the cause of another Croisade? 
^2. — In what year did Philip Augustus, and Richard I. 

king of England, set out on the Croisade.^yv,;^ 

£s. ^ T^^^—r 

24. — .Who conquered most of the English provinces in 
Fi-ance.y- ..^.^if'J^. 

25, — In what year was' (Constantinople taken by the 
French and Venetians?,'.!^ =# 'l 

26. — What was the reason of Constantinople being ta- 
ken a second time? 



94 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

What cities afforded a richer pillage than any other 

mentioned in history? 
27. — Who was elected emperor of the East? 

28. 

29. — Who gained the victory of Bovines? 
30. — What French prince was proclaimed king of En- 
gland at London? 
31. — What was the character of Philip Augustus? 
32. — When did France begin to emerge from a state of 

ignorance? 
33. — What occurrences contributed to the civilization of 

western Europe? f.^ . v, ' 
In what year was the great altar in the Cathedral 

Notre Dame finihseJ?/J F\,., 
34. — Wlien is the university of Paris supposed to have 

been founded? 
S5. — What benefits accrued to the kings and the people 

from the Croisades? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



S.'i 



LETTER Vll. 



Comprising a period of one huridrcd and five ijenrs, 
from A. D, 1223 to A, /). 1328. 



K-iii^s of b'rance. 


i Cotempoiarv kin^s of England. 


Lewis Vlir. 

Lewis IX. called St. 
Lewis. 


Henry in. 
Henry \\\. 



Piiilip in. surnarned 
the Haidy. 

Philip IV. surnarned 
the Fair. 



Lewis X. surnarned 
Hutin. 



Henry HI. 
KdwaVd I. 

E<lwar(l 1. 
Edward U. 

Edward II. 



Pliilip V. surnarned the 
Lon;^, from tlie heiglit 
of his stature. 



Edward II. 



Charles IV. surnanned 
the Fair. 



P'dward II. 
Edward III. 



DEAR SIR, 

ASSURING myself that you have ponder- 
ed well in your mind the reflections with which I 
concluded my last letter, I again take up my pen 



96 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

to give you some further information respecting 
the history of France. 

1 Philip Augustus was succeeded by his son, 

^ Lewis VIII/ who ascended the throne at the age 
of thirty-six. His short reign was not marked by 
any great event; but he distinguished its com- 
mencement fby enfranchising a great number of 
villains, in conformity to the maxims of his prede- 
cessors, f This prince died A. D. 1226, in the 
fortieth year of his age, having completed the third 
of his reign, in which he shewed himself a friend 
to popular liberty. 

2. He was succeeded by his son Lewis IX. 
who is commonly distinguished by the name of 
St. Lewis. This prince, being only twelve years 
of age, was under the guardianship of Blanche, his 
mother; and the whole time of his minority was 

% employed in subduing the rebellious nobles, who 
had taken arms against the queen regent. I Blanche, 
however, by a prudent and vigorous administra- 
tion, reduced the malcontents to obedience; and 
Lewis, on receiving the reigns of government, 
found himself possessed of an authority not inferior 
to that of his predecessors. During his reign, he 
had often to contend with his vassals, as well as 
with Henry HL of England, but these contests 
generally terminated to his advantage. 

^. The most remarkable events of the reign of 
St. Lewis, were his two Croisades against the 
Mahommedans of Egypt and Tunis.| In the first 
of these, which took place A. D. 1248, he was 
accompanied by his three brothers, the counts of 
Artois, Poictiers, and Anjou, the duke of Bur- 



LETTERS ON FBENGH HISTORY. Df 

gundy, the counts of Flanders, Sto Paul, and La- 
marche, with many other lords. ? His first opera- 
tions were crowned with success. He made him- 
self master of Damietta, and on several occasions, 
both ne and his troops performed prodigies of va- 
lour. yBut his successes were followed by a dread- 
ful reverse: the French army was reduced by fa- 
mine and sickness to the greatest distress, and the 
king and his nobles were made prisoners. In con- 
sequence of this disaster, he was obliged to pay an 
enormous sum for his ransom, to restore Damiet- 
ta, and evacuate Egypt. He afterwards proceed- 
ed to Palestine, and repaired the fortifications of 
Caesurea, Sidon, Acre, and Joppa; and his disas- 
trous expedition was productive of some benefi- 
cial effects, as he obtained by various negotiations 
the liberty of more than twelve thousand Christian 
captives. 

4. The Croisade which St. Lewis undertook 
against Tunis, A. D. 1269, terminated still mere 
disastrously than that of Egypt. Having landed 
on the Aimcan coast with an army of sixty thou- 
sand men^the plague broke out in his campj and 
after seeing one of his sons expire, the king him- 
self died of that malady./ After his death, which 
happened A. D. 1270, his son and successor, Phi- 
lip the Hardy, having defeated the infidels, con- 
cluded a treaty of peace with the king of Tunis, 
and thus saved the shattered remains of the French 
army. This was the sixth and last of those wild 
expeditions, which, during a period of a hundred 
and seventy-four years, had at different intervals 
agitated Europe and Asia. 
K 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

5.\ St. Lewis is one of the most extraordinary 
characters that is found in the annals of royalty. 
Devout in the closet, and intrepid in the field, he 
united the narrow prejudices of the monk with the 
magnanimity of the hero. Jn the administration 
of justice he was strict and^inflexible; and in the 
camp he maintained the most rigid discipline. 
He curbed the turbulence of the ambitious nobles; 
and notwithstanding his piety and attachment to 
religion, he firmly opposed the encroachments 
which popes and prelates were inchned to make 
on the royal authority. But while liis govern- 
ment of the kingdom was characterized by such 
vigorous measures, he made a quite different ap- 
pearance in his domestic economy. His servants 
were his masters, and his time was spent in the 
most scrupulous and rigid practices of devotion. 
His soul was fired only by great objects, and he 
disdained to bestow his attention on what he re- 
gsirded as trifles. His only fault was a Ihnatical 
zeal for religion which prompted him to butcher 
mankind for the glory of God. His prudence 
was equal to his courage: he enacted many good 
laws, and had not his rage for croisading led him 
to extra^^agant projects, France would have flou- 
rished greatly under his government. But the 
vhtues of St. Lewis were his own: his errors were 
those of the times; and his name is held in venera- 
tion bv everv Frenchman. 

6. This prince was succeeded by his son Philip 
HL surnamed the Hardy, on account of the intre- 
pidity which he displayed befoie Tunis after the 
death of his fitther. After his return to France, 



LF/rTERS ON FRF.NCH HISTORY. 99 

his reign was not marked by any great event, be- 
ing chiefly spent in hnmbling the refractory no- 
bles in the sonthern provinces, and in unimportant 
wars with the kings oF Castile and Arragon.-— 
Philip the Hardy died A D. 1285, in the fbrty- 
lirst year oi' his age, and the sixteenth of his reign. 

7. He was succeeded l)y his son Philip IV. 
sur named the Fair, who ascended the throne at 
the age oT seventeen, and was also crowned king 
of Navarre in riglit of his wile. Pliilip had a 
bloody contest with his vassal the count of Flan- 
ciers, whom he at length reduced to obedience, 
and some wars with Edward I. king of Englahd, 
whick^l^roduccd no important results^^ 

8.«?rhe reign of Philip the Fair/^iowever, is 
distinguished by events which produced a great 
change in the civil and political condition of the 
French nation. The chief of these was the admis- 
sion of the commons or third estate into the e-ene- 
ral assemblies of the nation, a custom which, al- 
though it had existed iimong the ancient Franks, 
had been laid aside from time immemorial. A 
quarrel between Philip and the pope Boniface 
Vni. led to this restoration of the rights of the 
commons. The pope demanded a share of the 
tenths which Philip had levied on the clergy. 'I'he 
French monarch, who was very needy, but not 
less haughty than his holiness, answered the de- 
mand by a direct refusal The pope exasperated 
at this opposition to his claim, excommunicated 
the king, and laid the whole kingdom under an in- 
terdict; Philip being now placed in a dangerous 
situation judiciously considered an appeal to the 



mo LETTERS ©N FRENCH mSTORY. 

nation as the best means of preventing the effects 
of papal resentment. He accordingly convened 
ci general assembly of the three estates of ihe king- 
dom — nobilit)^, clergy and commons 7'his trans- 
action, which took place A. D. 1303, appears to 
be the first instance of the representatives of bo- 
roughs in France, being sinmnoned to the nation- 
al assemblies. Philip had the satisfaction of see- 
ing the expedient succeed according to his wish- 
es, l^he states disavoM^ed the papal claims, and 
acknowledged the independent rights of their king. 
Boniface VIII. dying soon after, was succeeded 
by Benedict XI. a man of great prudence and vir- 
tue, who annulled the sentence of excommunica- 
tion and interdict issued by his predecessor against 
the king and kingdom of France. 

9. It may here not be amiss to observe that 
about five years afterwards, viz. A. D. 1308, 
Clement V. a Frcnchmnn, removed the seat of the 
papacy from Rome to Avignon, where it continu- 
ed till A. D. 1376, a period of sixty-eight years. 

10. The reign of Philip the Fair, and the pon- 
tificate of Clement V. were disgraced by a most 
iniquitous transaction — the suppression of the 
knights templars. That religious and militar}' or- 
der, which was established during ihe first fervor 
of the Croisades, had, from its services, and the 
ispirit of the times, acquired ample possessions in 
mo^^t Christian countries, and particularly in France. 
But the mania of croisading had now^ subsided; 
and the templars enjoyed, nmidst splendour and 
luxury, that wealth which the enthusiastic' zeal of 
princes and nobles had bestowed on the order as 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 101 

the recompense of merit. Their riches indeed ap- 
pear to have been the real cause of their misfor- 
tunes. Some of them were accused of benig con- 
cerned in a seditious tumult which happened at Pa- 
ris, and under this pretext, Philip, with the con- 
currence of the pope, resolved to involve the whole 
order in one undistinguished ruin, and to seize its 
enormous wealth. All the knights templars 
diroughout France were arrested on the same day. 
They were charged with robbery, murder, idola- 
try, and all the vices most shocking to human na- 
ture. The absurdity and improbability of the 
crimes were sufficient to destroy the credit of the 
accusations. The unfortunate sufferers stand ac- 
quitted in the judgment of impartial posterity; and 
the dramatic pen of M. de Renouard, has made 
their dreadful catastrophe an interesting subject of 
modern tragedy. Absurd as the charges against 
them appear, great numbers of the knights were 
put to the rack; some with unparalleled fortitude 
expired under the torture: from others of less 
firmness of mind, confessions were extorted. The 
possessions and treasures of the whole order were 
confiscated; and many of the knights were burned 
alive in different parts of the kingdom. At Paris 
the grand master and another of their chief officers 
being conducted to a scaffold, erected before the 
cathedral church of Notre Dame, in view of the 
fire designed for their execution, a full pardon was 
promised them on the condition of acknow^ledging 
their guilt. But those brave men, rejecting the 
disgraceful offer, perished in the flames, persisting 
with inflexible constancy in protestations of their 
K 2 



102 LETTERS ON FRIENCH HISTORY. 

own innocence and that of their order. Some his- 
torians relate, that those illustrious victims of ava- 
rice and cruelty summoned the pope and the king 
to appear on a certain day before the Divine tribu- 
nal, and that both of them died within the time 
fixed by the summons. It is not improbable that 
the death of those princes which happened soon 
after, might give rise to the story. An enlight- 
ened mind can give but little credit to tales of mi- 
racles and predictions; but it is certain, that with- 
in less than two years after the destruction of the 
knights templars, both Philip and clement were 
cited before that tribunal, where this horrible af- 
fair would be impartially investigated. Philip fell 
into a lingering disorder, of which he died on the 
29th of November, A, D. 1314, in the forty- 
seventh year of his age, and the thirtieth of his 
reign. The suppression of the knights templars 
became general throughout Europe, but was no 
where attended with such circumstances of cruelty 
as in France. 

1 1 . This iniquitous transaction suffices to deve- 
lope the unconscientious character of Philip the 
Fair. His reign, however, was favourable to the 
interests of the commons of France. Besides 
giving them a place in the national assemblies, he 
granted letters of ennoblement to many of that or- 
der; a practice of which the first instance is met 
with in the reign of his father, Philip the Hardy, 
and which contributed to raise the commons near- 
er to a level with the nobility. 

12. Philip the Fair was succeeded by his son 
Lewis X. who ascended the throne at the age of 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 10{> 

twenty -three or twenty. five; for historians dis- 
agree on that subject. This prince died A. D. 
1316, and his short reign of two years presents 
nothing interesting. 

13. From the accession of Hugh Capet to the 
demise of Lewis X. comprising a period of thiee 
hundred and twenty- nine years, the crown of 
France had descended regularly frpm father to 
son, a case of not very common occurrence in 
history. But the death of the last mentioned prmce 
without issue male occasioned a dispute concern- 
ing the succession. Philip the Long, and Jane, 
queen of Navarre preferred their claims to the 
crown, the former as the brother, the latter as the 
daughter and heiress of the late king. The states 
general of the kingdom being convened, the mat- 
ter was debated; and it was finally concluded that 
females could not inherit the crown of France. 
In consequence of this decision Philip V. from the 
height of his stature, surnamed the Long, ascend- 
ed the throne; but his reign of five years is not 
marked by any important event. 

14. Philip the Long, died A. D. 1322, in the 
twenty-ninth year of his age, and leaving no male 
issue, was succeeded by his brother Charles IV. 
surnamed the Fair. This prince gained some ad- 
vantages over Edward II. of England, from whom 
he took several towns in Guienne. He died with- 
out issue male, A. D. 1328, in the thirty-fourth 
year of his age, and the sixth of his reign. The 
only praise which the French historians bestow on 
Charles is for his regard to the impartial adminis- 
tration of justice, which is certainly no trifling ei> 
eomium on a sovereign. 



104 I.ETTF.liS ON FRENCH HlSTOttY. 

You have now, my dear sir, been conducted 
through a period of French history, which ex:- 
cepting the admission of the third estate to Hit 
national assemblies, and the iniquitous proceedmgs 
against the knights templars, afibrds but little to 
attract your attention. I shall in a short time re- 
late transanrtions of a nature more interesting, 
especially ioim Englishman. In the mean while, 

I remain, dear sir, 

Your's, &c. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — Who succeeded Philip Augustus? 
2. — Ho<v was the minority of St. Lewis employed? 
3.— Which were the two most remarkable events of his' 
reign? 
What befel him in his first Croisade? 
4. — What befel St, Lewis in his second Croisade? 
5 — What was the character of St. Lewis? 

6..— . ^ 

7. . _- ^ 



8. — When and by whom were the commons of France 

first admitted into the general asssemblies? 
9. — When was the seat o^f the papacy removed from 
Rome to Avignon? i\Si- (i^ ^.■ 
10. — In what reigti was thi Order *of knights templars 

abolished? 
11. — Who ennobled many of the commons of France? 

12.. ^ —. ^ 

l3.-^How long h^d the crown of France dev 
gular succession from father to son? 
What caused the first dispute concernin 

sion? 
Who were the claimants? 
How was the dispute decided? 
14...^ _^ ■ ■■ - 




r'.ETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



105 



LETTER VIIL 

(Comprising a period of one hundred and thirty- 
three ij ears, from A, Z). 1328. to A. D. 1461, 



Charles VI. 



Kings of Fi ance. 
Philip VI. of Valois. 


Cotemporarv kings of England. 
Kdward III. 


John. 


Edward III. 


Charles V. 


Edward HI. 
RichaMl li. 



icichaui il. 
Henry IV. 
Henr^^ V. 



Charles VU. 



W^^.v^< VL 



DEAR SIR, 

ACCORDING to my promise, I now have 
the pleasure otrenewinc^ our correspondence, nnd 
offer to your consideration a portion of French 
liistory filled with events that will certainly attract 
vour attention, and excite in your mind various 
and important reflections. 

1. You must, my dear sir, have observed, that 
before-lhe time of William the Conqueror, France 
and England had scarcely any political connection, 
and their military powers had never come into 
hostile contact. But no sooner had Normandv 
become an appendage to the crown of England, 



106 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

than hostilities between the two kingdoms fre- 
quently occurred. This indeed was an unavoid- 
able consequence of the kings of England holding 
possessions in France. These wars, however, 
were not productive of any important results until 
the reign of Philip Augustus, who expelled the 
English from all their continental territories, ex- 
cept Bourdeaux and Guienne. The possession of 
that province, together with the ancient claims of 
the crown of England to Normandy, Anjou, hci 
kept up the spirit of contest, and hostilities were 
often renewed without producing any great or in- 
terestinar events. But on the demise of Charles 
IV. A. D. 1328, circumstances occurred which 
caused the wars between France and England to 
assume a more interesting aspect. 

2. The three sons of Philip the Fair having suc- 
cessively sat on the throne of France, were now 
all swept away in the bloom of their age, without 
leaving any male issue. Charles IV. indeed, left 
his queen pregnant; but the posthumous child 
proving to be a daughter, this circumstance occa- 
sioned another dispute concerning the succession. 
The claimants were Edward III. king of England, 
and Philip, count of Valois Edward being the 
son of Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, was 
consequently the grandson of that monarch, and 
nephew of the three last kings of France. Philip 
of Valois was only their cousin german, being the 
nephew of Philip the Fair. Edward was therefore 
the nearest in blood, but descended from a female: 
Philip, though more distant in consanguinity, de- 
rived his descent from a male. The king of En- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 107 

gland alledged, that the exclusion of females from 
the throne by the salique law, did not implicate 
their male descendants. The count of Valois, on 
the contrary, nsisted, that not only the females 
themselves, but also their male posterity was ex- 
cluded. Such was the state of the case. The 
peers and barons of P' ranee decided the question in 
favour oi Philip, who in consequence of this deci- 
sion ascended the throne, being tiien about thirty- 
five years of age. 

o' This curious affair gave rise to those wars 
which, without any ultimate benefit to England, 
brought a train of calamities on France. Philip 
of Valois, however, enjoyed his crown in tran* 
quility nearly ten years. Jt can scarcely be doubt- 
ed that Kdward 111. had always intended to sup- 
port his pretensions by arms; but his ^vars with 
Scotland, and various other circumstances, pre- 
vented him from carrying his designs into execu- 
tion. 

4. Edward having placed John Baiiol on the 
throne of Scotland, resolved to wrest, if possible, 
from the hand of Philip of Valois, the sceptre of 
France. Having made vast preparations for this 
arduous enterprise, and strengthened himself by 
various alliances, but especially by a connection 
with James D'Arteville, an opulent brewer of 
Ghent, who possessed an unbounded influence 
over his countrymen, he landed at Antwerp, A.D. 
1338, with a powerful army. He was immediate- 
ly joined by the Flemings, who, at the instigation 
of D'Arteville, had revolted against the count of 
Flanders, their sovereign. 



103 LETTERS ON FllENGH mSTOK\. 

5. More than a year was consumed in various 
and unavoidable delays, before Ed vizard and Phi- 
lip took the field, and the first campaign was not 
marked by any important transaction. Eldward 
returned to England to procure fresh supplies, and 
in the year 1340 u;)dertook his next expedition 
against France. The French fleet, being station- 
ed near Siuys to prevent his landing, was totally 
dereated, and algiost destroyed by the English, 
conimandeci by Edward In perbon. The French 
hisiorr ns say that their fleet consisted of a hun- 
dred and twenty ships, with forty thousand mem 
on board; but if this statement be correct, their 
vessels must have been larger than those of any 
other nation in that age. 

6. Edward having landed in Flanders without 
any further opposition, assembled the finest army 
that had ever been commanded by any king of 
England: it consisted of a hundred and fifty thou- 
sand men, English, Germans, Flemings, and Gas- 
cons. With this force he commenced the sitge 
of Tournay. Philip, with an army superior in 
numbers, advanced to the relief of that place; and 
although he declined a battle, he constantly h^r- 
rassed the besiegers by desultory attacks. Ed- 
ward perceiving the reduction of Tournay to be 
a difficult task, and being in want of money for 
continuing the war, concluded a truce with Phi- 
lip, and returned to England. 

7. On the renewal of the war, the French were 
victorious in Guienne, and had forced the earl of 
Derby, the English general to take slielter in 
Bourdeaux. Philip had also found means to de- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 109 

tach the Flemings from their alliance with En- 
gland; and James D'Arteville, the demagogue of 
Ghent, was killed in a popular tumult. The 
king of England therefore, expecting no further 
support from the Flemings, resolved to proceed 
to Guienne, and commence his operations from 
that quarter. But after putting to sea with his 
troops, he was prevented by contrary winds from 
reaching his intended destination, and landed in 
Normandy. 

8. The French monarch advancing with an ar- 
my of a hundred thousand men, Edward began to 
retreat; but seeing the impossibility of avoiding a 
battle, he took a strong position near Cressey, and 
resolved to await the approach of the enemy. Phi- 
lip not doubting of victory, made extraordinary 
efforts to come up with the English; but by at- 
tacking them in a position in which his superiority 
of numbers was useless, he sustained the most 
dreadful defeat that the French had ever experi- 
enced since the foundation of their monarchy 

9. The memorable battle of Cressey was fought 
on the 26th of August, A. D. 1346. It is said, 
that on this occasion cannon was first used by the 
English, being then unknown to the French. 
Young Edward, prince of Wales, gained a reputa- 
tion equal to that of the greatest heroes of antiqui- 
ty, and the victory of the English is by some as- 
cribed to the bravery which he displayed. The 
French monarch also performed prodigies of va- 
lour; and after having two horses killed under him, 
and receiving several severe wounds, was obliged 
to be carried from the field. In the battle and 

h 



110 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

pursuit, there fell of the French eleven princes, 
eighty bannerets, twelve hundred knights, and 
about thirty thousand soldiers. Amongst the 
slain were the duke d' Alencon, brother to the king 
the duke of Lorrain; and fifteen other noblemen 
of high distinction; besides the king of Bohemia 
who aided Philip as an ally, and although blind, 
died gallantly fighting under the banners of France. 
10. After this signal victory, Edward laid siege 
to Calais, At the first view of the fortifications, 
he perceived the difficulty of taking that place by 
force, and therefore resolved to reduce it by fa- 
mine. For this purpose, he drew round the town 
four lines of circumvallation, and seven hundred 
ships formed the blockade by sea. The town be- 
ing at length reduced to the last extremity, Philip 
resolved to make an effort for its relief. Since 
his defeat at Cressey, he had with incredible acti- 
vity assembled another army of a hundred and 
fifty thousand men. With this formidable force 
he approached Calais and offered battle to the En- 
glish; but Edward keeping within his intrench- 
ments, which it was impossible to force, Philip 
was obliged to retire. The inhabitants of Calais 
despairing of relief, and perishing by famine, de- 
manded a capitulation. Edward, exasperated 
at the obstinacy of their resistance, would only 
grant them personal safety on the hard condi, 
tion of delivering up six of the principal burgh- 
ers to suffer death by martial law, as victims to 
his vengeance. This severe proposal filled Ca- 
lais with consternation. The inhabitants could 
not think of preserving their lives, by deliver- 
ing up any of their companions in arms who 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. Ill 

had shared in the hardships of the siege, and 
contributed to the common defence. Here we 
meet with an instance of patriotic heroism scarce- 
ly parallel in Greek or Roman history Eustace 
St. Pierre, one of the principal persons of the 
town, seeing despair painted on every countenance 
nobly offered to be one of the six. A magnani- 
mity so uncommon had such an effect, that five 
others immediately followed the heroic example. 
These self devoted victims went out of the town 
bare- footed, in their shirts, with halters about their 
necks, and presented the keys to the conqueror, 
who immediately ordered them to be led to exe- 
cution. The prince of Wales, and the EngUsh 
siobles, pleaded for their pardon; and when the 
king appeared inexorable, his queen Philippa, 
casting herself at his feet, implored him for Christ's 
sake to desist from an action that would be an eter- 
nal stain on his memory. Edward yielded to her 
intreaties; and the queen, not contented with sav- 
ing the lives of the heroes of Calais, ordered 
clothes to be brought them, and after giving them 
an entertainment in her own pavilion, dismissed 
them with a present to each of six pieces of gold. 
They were afterwards honourably received by Phi- 
lip, who amply rewarded their magnanimous he- 
roism. Thus, after a siege or rather a blockade 
of eleven months and some days, the king of En- 
gland became, on the 3d of August 1347, master 
of Calais. Famine had compelled the town to sur- 
render, and the fortifications were still entire. Ed- 
ward was so convinced of the importance of this 
place, that he removed all the inhabitants, and re- 



112 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

peopled the town with a a colony of English. Af- 
ter this conquest a truce was concluded, and Ed- 
ward returned to England. 

1 1. France and England now obtained some re- 
pose, and exchanged the horrors of war for the 
blessings of peace; but both these countries were 
afflicted with a most dreadful calamity. The years 
1248 and 1349 stand fatally distinguished in his- 
tory by the general pestilence which made so ter- 
rible ravages, not only in both these countries, but 
throughout all the then known world, that more 
than half of the human species is supposed to have 
■•perished by this tremendous visitation. 

12. Philip of Valoisdied A. D. 1350, prema- 
turely old, and worn out by the cares of i-oyalty 
and the pleasures of love, although only in the fif- 
ty eigth year of his age. His reign of twenty two 
years, amongst many evils, procured some future 
benefit to France. By various means he annexed 
several great fiefs to the crown, and thus strength- 
ened the regal authority. And his subjects, al- 
though experiencing great misfortunes, never de- 
viated from their loyalty. 

13. John the son and successor of Philip, re- 
newed the truce with Edward; but it w^as ill ob- 
served on both sides; and at its expiration, A. D, 
1354, the two kings of France and England were 
already prepared for war, Edward, prince of 
Wales, who resided at Bordeaux, recommenced 
hostilities, and made successful incursions into 
the interior of France. With an army of twelve 
thousand men, of whom three thousand were 
English, and the rest Gascons, Flemish and other 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 113 

foreigners, he ravaged the provinces of Auvergne, 
Limousin, Poictou and Berry, and advanced to 
the gates of Bourg. But the approach of the 
French king, with a force of sixty thousand men, 
obhged him to begin a circuitous retreat towards 
Bordeaux. John pursued him with extraordi- 
nary celerity, and came up with him in the vicini- 
ty of Poictiers. The prince, seeing the impossi- 
bility of continuing his retreat, intrenched his army 
at Maupertuis, about six miles from Poictiers, in 
a strong position incumbered with vineyards and 
thick hedges which rendered it of difficult access. 
A negotiation was begun; and prince Edward, 
considering the difficulty of his situation, offered 
to restore all that he had taken in his incursions, 
and not to bear arms for seven years against France. 
But John relying on the superiority of his force, 
rejected these proposals, and insisted that the 
prince with his army should surrender at discre- 
tion. To this Edward replied, that he would die 
with his sword in his hand rather than tarnish the 
glory of the English name. 

14. In such a situation, the French monarch 
might with ease have surrounded this small army, 
and forced it by famine to surrender; and all his 
experienced generals advised him to adopt that 
measure, of which the success appeared certain. 
But his imagination being dazzled with the pros- 
pect of a splendid victory, he rejected so salutary 
a counsel, and resolved to make an attack on the 
English position. In consequence of this deter- 
mination, the battle of Poictiers was fought on the 
19th of September, A. D. 1356, little more thaii 
L 2 



U4 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ten years after that of Cressey, and with an issue, 
ahhough less bloody, yet more disastrous to 
France. The nature of the ground being such 
that the French cavalry was unable to act, coun- 
terbalanced, in a great measure, their superiority 
of numbers. John displayed the most dauntless 
courage during the action, animating his soldiers 
by his voice and example, and exposing his per- 
son in the places of greatest danger. The French, 
were at length thrown into disorder; but their king 
whose conspicuous valour had drawn upon him 
the bravest of the English warriors, though stand- 
ing single and surrounded by enemies, defended 
himself with undaunted resolution, till at length, 
being overpowered by the number of assailants, he 
surrendered himself prisoner to Denis Morbec, a 
knight of St. Omers. Together with the king 
was taken his youngest son Philip; who, although 
only thirteen years of age, had l;ravely fought by 
his side. Of the French, there fell in the field 
more than six thousand, and about fifteen thou- 
sand were made prisoners; amongst whom, beside 
the king and his son, were the duke of Bourbon, 
and the constable of France, with fifty of the prin- 
cipal nobles, and eight hundred gentleman of dis- 
tinction. The prince of Wales treated his royal 
prisoner with the greatest politeness, and after- 
wards conducted him to London, where the cap- 
tive monarch was received with the most distin- 
guished honours. 

15 During the captivity of the king, his son, 
Charles the Dauphin, governed the kingdom with 
the title of regent. But a revolt of the Parisians, 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 115 

headed by Etienne Marcel, provost of the mer- 
chants, who assassinated the two marshals of Nor- 
mandy and Champagne, in the presence of the 
dauphin obliged that prince to retire from the ca- 
pital. The peasants at the same time rose against 
the nobility, by whom they had been grievously 
oppressed, and carried their violences to such an 
excess, as threatened the extermination of the 
whole order. The dauphin, by his prudent and 
vigorous measures, put an end to these revolts; 
but the nation was in so unsettled and turbulent 
a state, that he found it next to impossible to re- 
establish order. 

16. John had in the mean while concluded a 
treaty with the king of England, who agreed io 
grant him his liberty; but the conditions were so 
disadvantageous to France, that the states refused 
their ratification. Edward, therefore, again made 
immense preparations for attempting the conquest 
of France, while tfie confused state of that king, 
dom afforded so favourable an opportunity. Hav- 
ing assembled at Calais an army of a hundred 
thousand men, he was extremely desirous of bring- 
ing the dauphin to action; and after ravaging Ar- 
tois and Champagne, and compelling the duke of 
Burgundy to agree to a neutrality, he advanced to 
the gates of Paris. But the dauphin, prudently 
resolving not to stake the fate of the kingdom on 
the event of a battle, kept himself shut up in 
the capital; and although the English devastated 
the environs, and the smoke of burning villages 
was seen from the walls, nothing could induce 
him to alter his determination. Edward, however, 



116 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, 

made no attempt on Paris. Regarding the siege 
of that capital as too difficult an undertaking, he 
retired towards La Beauce, and encamped in the 
vicinity of Chartres. 

17. In May, A. D. 1360, a treaty of peace was 
concluded at Bretigny. The principal articles 
were, that the king of England should possess in 
full sovereignty Calais, Guienne, Saintonge, Poic- 
tou, &c. and that he should, for himself and his 
successors, renounce all pretensions to the crown 
of France, as well as to the duchy of Normondy, 
the earldom of Anjou, and all the other territories 
in France possessed at any time by his predeces- 
sors. The ransom of the king of Fraiice vyas fixed 
at three millions of crowns, and that prince was 
restored to liberty. 

18. Towards the end of the year 1363, the 
French monarch returned to England, where he 
was received by Edward and his court with all 
the honours due to so illustrious a guest; but the 
motives of his visit have never been developed, 
and all that historians have said on the subject a- 
mounts to nothing more than conjecture. In the 
following year, 1364, this prince died at his palace 
of the Savoy at London, in the forty-fifth year of 
his age, and the fourteenth of his reign, which had 
been extremely calamitous to France. \ John pos- 
sessed great personal courage, strength, and acti- 
vity: but from his conduct at the battle of Poic- 
tiers, there seems to have been in his character 
more of the soldier than of the general. \ 

19. Charles V. son and successor of John, as- 
cended the throne at twenty -sevee years of age; 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 117 

and from his prudence obtained the surname of 
Wise. At his accession France was in a most 
disorderly state. In those time.^, there were al- 
ways great numbers of licentious desperadoes of 
all nations, especially French, Flemings, Germans 
and Italians, who disliking a life of peace, and des- 
pising the slow acquisitions of industry, made 
war their employment, and plunder their pursuit. 
These vagrant bands, attached to no particular na- 
tion: were always ready to enlist under the ban- 
ners of those who would give them pay and promis- 
ed them plunder. The armies of Edward II. were 
chiefly composed of troops of that description; and 
on the conclusion of the peace, a multitude of those 
military adventurers being dispersed in various 
provinces of France, refused to lay down their 
arms, and relinquish a course of life to which they 
were habituated, and by which alone they could 
procure subsistence. By associating with them 
the disbanded soldiers of France, and other despe- 
radoes, these ruffian bands were srrown very nu- 
merous, and assuming the name of companies, 
became the terror of the country. The war which 
Henry of Transtamare had undertaken against his 
brother Pedro, surnamed the Cruel, king of Cas- 
tile, affor led the French monarch an opportunity 
of ridding the kingdom of those banditti.' Henry 
of Transtamare enlisted them into his service; and 
under the command of the celebrated Bertrand du 
Guesclin, they defeated and dethroned the Castilian 
tyrant. But Elvvard prince of Wales having es- 
poused his cause, marched from Bordeaux, and 
replaced him on the throne. Pedro, however, be- 



llii LETTEUS ON F|tE>[CH HISTQRV, 

ing afterwards cklt ated in battle, and taken prison- 
er, Henrv killed him with his own hand; and was 
cro^\ned kint^ of Castile. The rulfian companies 
were consumed in those wars, and Du Guesclin 
w as made eonstable of France. 

20. From the moment of his accession, Charles 
^^ had meditated the renewal of the war with En- 
gland. But he deemed it necessary to dissemble, 
until he had acquired sufficient strength for that 
purpose; and during the space of five years, he 
continued his professions of peace, and prepara- 
tions for war. At length he threw oft^ the mask, 
and found a pretext for a quarrel; and the declin- 
ing health, of the prince of Wales obliging him to 
lea\'e France, his departure was fatal to the afiairs 
of the Knglish in that country. Du Guesclin, on 
wiiom the French king had conferred the command 
of his armies, subdued the greatest part of Guienne, 
and recovered the the other provinces which had 
been, ceded to England by the treaty of Bretigny; 
and before the end of the war, he deprived the En- 
glish of all their recent conquests and ancient pos- 
Ncssions in France, except Calais and Bordeaux. 

21. The year 1376 was distinguished by the 
death of Edward, prince of Wales, called the black 
prince, from the colour of his armour. He was 
die glory of England, and one of the greatest 
heroes that any age or country ever produced. — 
His death was followed about a year after by that 
of his father, Edward HI. one of the most celebra* 
ted princes that ever was decorated with royalty. 
The famous Bertrand Du Guesclin, one of the 
greatest military commanders of his time, died A. 



r.RTTV.Ri=? ON fnP-Nni HTS'lonV. 119 

1). 1380, and in the same year died Charles V. 
king of Franee, celebrated for his eonsummate 
prudenee and political sagacity. Within the short 
space of four years, four of the greatest men that 
any age had seen were swept away from the earth, 
and buried all their contentions in the tomb. But 
this is only one of numerous instances which his- 
tory affords, to show the vanity of all the pursuits 
of ambition, and the transitory nature of sublunary 
things, 

22/ Charles V. died A. D. 1380, as it has been 
already observed, being in the forty, fourth year of 
his age, and the seventeenth of his reign, which, 
although tumultous and troublesome, was uni- 
formly prospc rous. flis early death is ascribed to 
the effects of Pv)ison, given him before his acces- 
sion by Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, who 
intended by his destruction to open for himself a 
way to the throne of France. The character of 
Charles V. merits attention. He possessed an un- 
common share of prudence, having been educated 
in the school ot adversity, and tutored by experi- 
ence in situations of difliculty and danger. Con- 
trary to the general practice of j^rincesin that age, 
he never appe ircd at the head of his armies, and 
was the first European monarch that showed the 
advantage of policy and Ibresight over rash and pre. 
cipitate valour. From the inmost recesses of his 
palace, the effects of his prudence were felt through- 
out every part of the kingdom; and without stir- 
ring out of his cabinet, he recovered almost all that 
his father and grandfather, after excesive fatigues 
and extraordinary efforts of courage and bravery 



120 LfiTTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

had lost. He was also a lover of learning, and 
may be considered as the founder of the royal 
library at Paris. He collected and placed in the 
Louvre about nine hundred volumes — a very great 
number in that age, when the typographical art 
was not yet invented, especially as twenty volumes 
composed the whole literary stock left him by his 
predecessor. From such an insignificant com- 
mencement arose that famous library which has be- 
come the admiration of later times. It was con- 
siderably augmented by Lewis XH. and Francis L 
after a taste for letters and science had begun to 
diftuse itself in France: succeeding princes added 
to its literary stock, and under the auspices of 
Lewis XIV. and Lewis XV. it was rendered the 
most copious and most valuable library in the 
whole world, with perhaps the single exception of 
that of the Vatican at Rome. 

t^3. At the demise of Charles V. France had 
nearly recovered her former grandeur; but that 
kingdom \\ as never more unhappy than under the 
reign of his son and successor. Charles VI. was a 
minor of twelve years of age; and the disputes of 
his four uncles, the dukes of Anjou, Burgundy, 
Berry, and Bourbon, for the regency, were the 
harbingers of the calamities that were about to fall 
on the kingdom. It was at last agreed that the 
duke of Anjou should be president of the council, 
and that the care of the king's person should be 
committed to the dukes of Burgundy and Bour- 
bon, who, with the approbation of the dukes of 
Anjou and Berry, were to nominate the ofScers of 
the royal household. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 121 

Anjou and Beny, vvcre to noiiiiiiau: the officers 
oi the royal household. 

24.- In the thirteenth year of his reign, A. D.' 
1393; Charles VI. having previously shown some 
symptoms oi mental derangement, was st ized with 
a sudden Irenzy. ^ From this disorder he had a 
partial recovery; but although he had lucid inter- 
vals, the state of his mind was such as to render 
him unfit for the government of the kingdom. In 
the mean while the marriage of his sister Isabella 
with Richard II. produced a truce of twenty years 
between France and England. 

25. The incapacity of the unfortunate monarch 
occasioned a violent contest between the houses of 
Burgundy and Orleans, both of them aspiring to 
the administration. The dukes of Burgundy and 
Berry seized on the regency, and excluded the 
king's brother, the duke of Orleans, from any 
share in the management of public affairs. France 
now began to present a scene of anarchy and 
crimes to which we seldom find any parallel in 
history. The duke of Orleans was accused of be- 
witching the king his brother; but the falsity of 
the chai ge being proved, the accusers were put 
to death. The duke then seized on the adminis- 
tration, from which he excluded his uncle the 
duke of Burgundy,' but the latter soon recovered 
his superiority. 

26. Philip duke of Burgundy dying A. D. 1405, 
was succeeded by his son John, surnamed the 
Fearless, who, following the steps of his father, 
seized the regency, and compelled the queen and 
the duke of Orleans to retire from Paris. The 

M 



132 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

duke of Burgundy was now beyond comparison 
the most potent vassal ol' the French crown. Phi- 
lip the Hardy had, by marriage with the heiress of 
those provinces, become count of Flanders, Ar- 
tois, Franehe-Comte, &cc. To these territories 
his son John added Hainault, Holland, and Zea- 
land by espousing Margaret of Bavaria. John the 
Fearless, therefore, was in possession not only of 
Burgundy and Franche-Comte, but of nearly the 
whole of the Netherlands. 

27. A feigned reconciliation between these two 
branches of the royal family of France, did not ex- 
tinguish their animosity. The duke oi Orleans 
Avas assassinated in one of the streets of Paris by 
ruffi c.ns, whom the duke of Burgundy had hired 
for that bloody purpose. The couit and parlia- 
ment of Paris, instead of avenging the death of the 
first prince of the blood, accepted the duke of 
Burgundy's justification, and the heinous crime 
of murder was veiled under the specious name of 
tyrannicide. 

28. The duke of Burgundy was now possessed 
of the administration; but the court and the capital 
presented a scene of confusion, being divided by 
the two factions of thei'Burgundians and the Ar- 
inai»'nacs: the latter beinu: so named from the 
count of Armagnac, who had es])oused the cause 
and joined the party of his son-in-law, the young 
duke of Orleans. An open war was carried on 
between the two factions; and Paris exhibited con- 
tinual scenes of violence and bloodshed. I'he 
count of St. Paul, governor of the city, desirous 
of expelling the Armagnacs, engaged a number of 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 123 

butchers, and formed a body of five hundred des- 
peradoes, who committed all kinds of outrages. 
The king being in the power sometimes of one 
party, sometimes of the other, transferred alter- 
nately to each the ostensible appearance of legal 
authority. A treaty of peace was concluded, but 
soon after violated; and the Parisians, at the in- 
stigation of the duke of Burgundy, held Lewis the 
dauphin, who favoured the Armugnacs, a prisoner 
in the hotel of St. Paul. The king at length was 
induced to join the duke of Orleans in the war 
against the Hurgundians. 

29. Such was the anarchical state of France 
when Henry V. of England, reviving the claims of 
his ancestor Edward III. projected the invasion 
and conquest of that kingdom. In the month of 
August, A. D. 1415, Henry landed with fifty 
thousand men at Havre de Grace, in Normandy. 
But sickness soon rendered his army incapable of 
ofi'ensive operations. An epidemical dysentery 
had broke out amongst the troops, and in a lew 
Aveeks made such terrible ravages that not more 
than a fourth part was left alive and able to bear 
arms. The French in the mean while having col- 
lected a numerous army, were rapidly advancing. 
Under these circumstances, the king of England 
adopted the difficult, and almost desperate expe- 
dient of retiring to Calais. 

30. The constable D'Albret, generalissimo of 
the French armies, took every possible measure 
to harass the English, and cut off their retreat. 
Having been joined by all the princes of the blood, 
except the dukes of Burgundy and Berry, and all 



1^4 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the nobles except those of their faction, he called 
a council of war, in which it was unaninnously re- 
solved to force the king of England to an action; 
and according to this determination, a position was 
taken near Agincourt, directly in his route towards 
Calais. But in choosing a narrow piece of ground, 
flanked on one side by a rivulet, on the other by a 
wood, the French general committed a fault which, 
in ail probability, occasioned the loss of the battle. 
The English army is said to have been Avasted by 
sickness to about nine thousand men, and accord- 
ing to the most moderate statements the French 
forces were three or four times more numerous 
than those of the enemy with whom they had to 
contend; and as the English were under the neces- 
sity of proceeding towards Calais, the French com- 
mander had in his own power the choice of his 
ground, and ought to have waited for them on some 
plain sufficiently spacious for the evolutions of his 
numerous army. 

31. The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 
25thof October A. D. 1415, under circumstances 
nearly similar to those which brought on the ac- 
tions of Cressey and Poictiers; and its issue was 
scarcely less disastrous to France. The constable 
D'AIbret, commander-in-chief of the French army, 
fell bravely fighting at the head of the first division, 
and the desperate efforts of the duke D'Alencon 
with the second were not able to change the for- 
tune of the day. The king of England, as well as 
his troops, displayed a valour never surpassed by 
the most renowned heroes that history commemo- 
rates, and gained a complete victory. The French 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 125 

lost the constable D'Albret, their commander-in- 
chief, the duke d'Alencon, prince of the blood, 
the dukes of Brabant and Bar, the counts of Ne- 
vers, Roussi, Faquenberg, Marli, and Vaude- 
niont who were all slaiji, as well as many other 
nobles and officers of distinction, and about ten 
thousand soldiers. Amongst the prisoners were 
the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, the counts of 
Eu, Vendome, Richmont, Etonville, and mares- 
chal Bocicaut, with many other persons of rank. 

32. So great a national misfortune did not ex- 
tinguish the national animosity of the French fac- 
tions. The duke of Burgundy approached Paris 
with his army. The Dauphin called in the count 
D'Armagnac, the head of the Orleans faction, and 
gave him the constable's sword. This nobleman 
spared none of the Burgundian party: some were 
hanged, many were imprisoned, and numbers 
escaped from the city. Lewis the dauphin died 
during these transactions. His brother John, the 
second dauphin, was inclined to favour the Bur- 
gundians; but within less than four months his 
life was terminated by poison. Charles, the third 
dauphin joined the Armagnacs; and the duke of 
Burgundy entered into an alliance with England. 
After the conclusion of this treaty, Henry V. had 
nearly the half of France on his side. 

33. The Burgundians having found means to 
introduce VilliersdePIsle Adam into Paris, made 
a terrible slaughter of the Orleans party; the con- 
stable D'Armagnac was thrown mto prison; the 
dauphin escaping in his shirt fled to Melun, and 
the king was left in the hands of the victorious fac- 

L 2 



3^6 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

tion. But this was only a prelude to more horrible 
scenes. The exiled Burgundians returning from 
all quarters to Paris renewed the massacre. The 
count D'Armagnac was murdered and dragged 
through the streets, and the chancellor and several 
others of that party, to the number of two thou- 
sand persons suffered the same treatment. A few 
days afterwards, June 14th, A. D. 1418, the duke 
of Burgundy entered the metropolis, and having 
the king in his power, issued in his name such or- 
ders as he thought conducive to his own interests. 

34. Soon after these events the French nation 
began to be cheered with the hope of a reconcili- 
ation between the contending factions. The pros- 
pect, however, was illusory. At an interview on 
the bridge of Montereau, for the ostensible pur- 
pose of friendly negotiation, John the Fearless, 
duke.of Burgundy, was assassinated on the 11th 
of August, A. D. 1419; in the presence of the 
dauphin, and, as it was universally believed by his 
order. His son and successor Philip the Good, 
in the view of avenging his death, entered into a 
league with the king of England, and with Isabella 
of Bavaria, queen of France, the implacable ene- 
my of her son the dauphin. The queen assumed 
the regency: a series of negotiations commenced, 
and on the 21st of May, A' D. 1420, a treaty was 
concluded at Troyes. Catherine, daughter of 
Charles VI. was given in marriage to the king of 
England who was declared regent of France du- 
ring the life of his father-in-law, and successor to 
the throne after his decease. 

35. The dauphin being by this treaty excluded 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 12^ 

from the succession, resolved to maintain by the 
sword h s hereditary right, and assuming the title 
of regent, contniued the war against the king of 
England and his adherents W.thin two years 
after the treaty of Troves, Henry V. died at Vin« 
cennes, and his son Henry VI. being a minor, he 
appointed his brother, the duke of Bedford, to the 
regency of France. 

36. The death of Henry V. of England was 
followed within less than two months by that of 
Charles VI. This prince died on the 20th of Oc- 
tober, A. D. 1422, m the fifty-fifth year of his 
age, and the forty-third of the most calamitous 
reign that France had ever seeji since the accession 
of Hugh Capet, or perhaps since the time of Char- 
lemagne. '' Of his character nothing can be said, 
as an unfortunate malady was the primary source 
of his misfortunes, and of those of the kingdom,, 

37. The dauphin now assumed the regal title 
by the name ol Charles VII. and was crowned at 
Poictiers. France thus beheld the baleful phseno- 
menon of two kings and two courts, \¥\\h hostile 
armies contending for her dubious sceptre, and 
desolating her finest provinces. Henry was mas- 
ter of Paris and most of the northern provinces: 
Charles was in possession ot all the southern parts 
of the kingdom, except Guienne, which was held 
by the English: the middle part might be consi- 
dered as doubtful territory; and several of the pro- 
vinces were divided between the two contending 
princes, each of whom had his fortified towns and 
garrisons in the neighbourhood of those of the 
enemy. Such was the state of France at the ac- 
cessions of the two rival kings. 



128 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

38. The war was carried on with all the vigour 
that the means of the two parties would permit; but 
France was weakened by discord and division and 
England was drained of men and money by sending 
fresh levies and maintaining numerous garrisons. 
And as the troops on both sides were for the most 
part employed in garrisoning the fortified places, 
the operations of the war consisted chiefly of sieges, 
surprises and skirmishes. The efforts of the Eti- 
glish however were generally crowned with suc- 
cess, and the affairs of Charles VII. began to 
appear irretrievable. 

39. But at the very moment when the French 
prince was reduced almost to the last extremity, 
that singular historical phaenomenon, the cele- 
brated Maid of Orleans appeared; and his fortune 
took a turn which the most sanguine imagination 
could never have expected. This extraordinary 
personage was a country girl, named Joan d'Arc, 
who lived at the village of Domremi in Lorrain, in 
the humble station of servant at aninit.v Being of an 
enthusiastic and visionary cast of mind, she imagin- 
ed herself to be commissioned by Heaven to restore 
her sovereign to the throne of his ancestors. This 
enthusiast being introduced to Charles, who was 
then at Chinon, declared her divine mission, offering 
in the name ofthe* Great Ruler of the universe, to 
raise the siege of Orleans, which was on the point 
of surrendering to the English, and to reinstate him 
in the kingdom by conducting him to Rheims to 
be anointed and crowned. -\ The king and his 
court perceiving that she might be made an use- 
ful instrument to revive the spirits of his adherents 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 129 

whose hopes were almost extinguished by conti- 
nual losses and misfortunes, resolved to adopt the 
illusion; and an excellent plan was contrived to 
give it an effect on the minds of the people. An 
assembly of divines examined her mission and pro- 
nounced it supernatural: a jury of matrons attested 
her unspotted virginity; and every story that craft 
could invent or ignorance believe, was forged to 
diffuse the opinion of her celestial inspiration. It 
was universally asserted, and as universally believ- 
ed, that Heaven had declared in favour of Charles 
and was ready to take vengeance on his enemies. 
The public mind being thus prepared, the Maid, 
mounted on horseback, and arrayed in all the habi- 
liments of war, was shown to the people, who re- 
ceived her with loud acclamations. The English 
affected at first to treat all this farce with derision; 
but their minds were secretly struck, and supersti- 
tion ingrafted on ignorance is irresistible in its op- 
erations. Feeling their courage and confidence 
abated, they conceived themselves to be under the 
influence of Divine indignation, and a general con- 
sternation seized on those troops, who, before this 
event, were elated with success, and fearless of 
danger. 

40. The minds of men being thus impressed, 
the Maid was brought into action. Arraytd in 
her martial habiliments; and displaying a consecra- 
ted standard, she put herself at the head of a con- 
voy destined for Orleans. The count de Dunois 
making at the same time a desperate sortie, the 
besiegers were obliged to give way. The con- 
voy was then introduced into Orleans, and Joan 



130 LETIERS ON FRENCH HISTOHY. 

entering the city, was received by the inhabitants 
as a celestial deliverer. 

4L This success being ascribed to the heaven- 
ly inspired maid, her enthusiasm animated the 
troops. Four successful sorties were made with 
Joan at their head: in the last of these, although 
wounded both in the neck and the shoulder, she 
continued to animate the soldiers, by exhortation 
and example, and on every occasion displayed an 
intrepidity and valour not to have been expected 
from her sex. The English having lost eight 
thousand men in those different actions, besides 
being driven from their principal works, were 
obliged to raise the siege on the 8th May, A. D. 
1429, after havhig consumed seven months before 
the place. 

42. The retreat of the English from before Or- 
leans ushered in the decline of their affairs. The 
whole disposable force of the French king did not 
amount to more than six thousand men; yet this 
inconsiderable body of troops fearlessly pursued 
the English; who, although far superior in num- 
bers, retired from before the inauspicious walls, 
panic struck, and in the greatest disorder. Their 
consternation was indescribable, and could only be 
equalled by the ardour instilled into their enemies, 
to whom the fortified towns surrendered with as- 
tonishing rapidity, and often without making any 
resistance. Never were the effects of superstitious 
creduhty more strikingly conspicuous. That the 
Maid of Orleans was an instrument of supernatu- 
ral agency, Avas the general belief of both nations; 
but while the French were every day more fully 



LETTERS ON FllENCH HlSTOllY. 131 

persuaded that her mission was Divine, the En- 
ghsh began to ascribe her successes to diabohcal 
powers: the former, therefore, were inspired with 
military enthusiasm: the latter were petrified with 
terror. 

43. The raising of the siege of Orleans was one 
parr of her promise to Charles: the other, which 
was his coronation at Rheims, yet remained to be 
performed, and appeared to be a work of great dif- 
ficulty. 'I'hat city was in the hands of the En- 
glish, and the king had above an hundred and twcn- 
t) miles to march, through a country filled with 
their garrisons. But it was expedient to maintain 
the belief ot something supernatural in those events. 
Charles therefore resolved to avail himself of the 
consternation of the enemy, and to follow his pro- 
phetic conductress. The presence of the Maid 
mspired the troo])s with the same enthusiastic ar- 
dour by which she \f as actuated. The English 
w^ere defeated at Palay: their garrisons surrender- 
ed at the first summons. Charles saw the number 
of his adherents increase with his prosperity; and 
his army was soon augmented to fortv-five thou- 
sand men. Rheims being, like all the fortified 
towns in his route, abandoned bv the l^ne:lish at 
his aj)proach, he entered the city in triumph; and 
on the 17th of July, A. D. 1429, was crowned 
with the usual solemnities. 

44. The Maid of Orleans now declared that 
her mission was concluded; but by the persuasions 
of the king, she consented to remain in his ser- 
vice 'I'his determination however, proved fatal 
to the heroine. Having imprudently thrown her- 



132 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

self into Compeigne, then besieged by the English 
she was taken prisoner in making a sortie. Poli- 
cy, superstition, and vengeance, concurred in pro- 
cui'ing her destruction. The duke of Bedford 
was desirous of dispelling an illusion which con- 
verted the English into cowards, and the French 
into heroes. The measures which he took for 
that purpose have disgraced his name in the eyes 
of an enlightened posterity, but they wereperfect- 
Iv in unison with the superstitious spirit of that 
age. By his order, she was tried by an ecclesi- 
astical court, on charges of impiety, heresy, and 
sorcery.) Her ignorant or iniquitous judges, 
found her guilty oi all these crimes; and this en- 
thusiastic, but admirable patriot and heroine, 
whose life and conduct had been irreproachable, 
was consigned to the flames. 

45. Thus perished the celebrated Maid of Or- 
leans, whose name will for fever be commemorat- 
ed in the histories of France and England, The 
cruel sacrifice, however, was too late to turn the 
tide of success, which for more than two years had 
so rapidly flowed in favour of Charles. In order 
to restore the declining aftairs of the English in 
France, Henry VI. was by the duke of Bedford's 
direction, brought to Paris, A. D 1431, and so- 
lemnly crowned in the cathedral of Notre Dame. 
The design of this spectacle was to animate his 
adherents; but the cause was irretrievably lost. 
The war, however, was continued during a series 
of years ^\ith various success, but generally to 
the disadvantage of the Knglish. In the year 
1435, their cause received a mortal blow by the 



Letters on fuench history. 1 33 

defection of the duke of Burgundy, who aban« 
doned the alliance of England, and concluded 
a treaty with Charles. In the following year, 
1436, on the 13th of April, Paris surrendered 
to Charles, after having been almost fourteen 
years in the possession of the English. All the 
other cities and provinces were successively re- 
covered, till at length, A. D. 1453, the French 
made themselves masters of Guienne, with Bor- 
deaux its capital. Thus the English were en- 
tirely expelled from every part of France, except 
the single town of Calais, the only remaining mo- 
nument of their former possessions and conquests. 

4-6, Charles VII. was the first French monarch 
that established a standing army. By this mea- 
sure, which tended to render the feudal levies un- 
necessary, he deprived the nobles of a pretext for 
keeping in arms those numerous bands of retain- 
ers with which they had been accustomed to car- 
ry on their private wars, and to overawe the sove- 
reign. He had therefore the glory, not only of 
expelling his foreign enemies, but also of weaken- 
ing the turbulent aristocracy of France, and of 
strengthening the power of the crown. This 
prince died A. D. 1461, in the fifty-ninth year of 
his age, and the thirty-ninth of a difficult, but most 
fortunate reign, which procured him the surname 
of Victorious, although he was little more than a 
spectator of its wonderful events. 

47. In regard to the character of Charles VIL 

historians arc not agreed. The president Renault 

says, that fortune seemed, out of mere wantonness 

and sport, to have raised up formidable enemies to 

N 



134 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

attack him, and able commanders to support his 
cause, and that he never concerned himseU' in its 
defence. He was not deficient in the courage of 
a soldier; but he wanted the prudence and fore- 
sight of a general. His life was spent in sports, 
in feasts, and gallantry. * 'Yet," says the presi- 
dent, ** some historians, deceived by the wonder^ 
of his reign, could not be persuaded that he had 
no concern in them, and therefore they have given 
him the title of Victorious." But if he did little 
for himself, fortune and friends did much for him; 
and his affairs were so well managed by his minis- 
ters and generals, that France, which at the com- 
mencement of his reign was divided, miserable, 
and depressed, was at its termination united, flou- 
rishing, and formidable. 

48, You have now, my dear Sir, seen pass in re- 
view, a period of French history highly important 
and interesting in itself, besides being closely con- 
nected with the annals of your own country. And 
you have had the opportunity of contemplating 
the effects of all the ambition, the valour, the sa- 
gacity, the craft, the superstitions, and follies oj 
mankind, brought into action in an age when Eu- 
rope was yet in a state of semi-civilization. 

The revolution produced by the Maid of Or* 
leans being an event of a singular nature, and un« 
paralleled in the annals of any age or country, can^ 
not have escaped your minute attention, nbr gli- 
ded through your mind without attracting obser- 
vation, and exciting reflection. The character 
and pretensions of this extraordinary person, have 
been a subject of dispute amongst divines, and 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 13^ 

historical critics. While the French affirmed that 
she vvas an agent of God, the EngHsh regarded her 
as an instrument of the devil. National prejudice 
united with superstition, directed their opinion. 
But an accurate knowledge of the human 'mind, 
and of political history, will solve the problem, 
without having recourse to the doctrine of mira- 
cles. Some have supposed, that the whole affair 
originated in the court of Charles, at Chinon; and 
that Joan D'Arc was from the very first instruct- 
ed in the part that she was to act. Pope Pius II. 
seems to have inclined to this f>pinion, which will 
not appear improbable to those who are versed 
with the history of kings and statesmen in the ages 
of popular ignorance. But from the accounts of 
her examination before the judges in which she de- 
clared that she had frequently heard preternatural 
voices, and been favored with visits by St. Catha- 
rine and St. Margaret, it appears that she was a fa- 
natical visionary. Such being the case, her en- 
thusiastic imagination, inflamed by daily accounts 
of the events then taking place, might probably 
have inspired her with a romantic desire of reliev- 
ing the distresses of her country and her sove- 
reign; and revolving continually these important 
subjects in her ignorant and inexperienced mind, 
she might easily mistake the impulses of fancy for 
celestial inspirations, a circumstance, of which ma- 
ny instances are found in the history of enthusi- 
asm. It is therefore highly probable, that the af- 
fair originated in her own heated imagination; and 
that the king and court, considering her as an in- 
strument that might be of use, and could not be 



13^ le'i;teus on frknch history. 

prejudicial in their situation, which already seem- 
ed desperate, availed themselves of the iUusion, 
and seconded it by imposture. On these princi- 
ples, this extraordinary affiiir, the discussion of 
ivhich has exercised so many pens, is easily ex- 
plained; and sound reason, untinctured with su- 
perstition, will readily conclude, that the celebra- 
ted Maid of Orleans was neither saint nor sorce- 
ress, but a visionary enthusiast. Of this the 
French generals were so fully convinced, although 
holding out a difterent opinion to their troops, that 
while they seemed to act under her direction, they 
w^ere careful not to deviate from the ordmary rules 
of \\'ar. The whole transaction ^^ as nothing more 
than a seasonable and successful concurrence of 
C4ithusiasm in the Maid, of political craft in the 
court, and of superstitious credulity in the people, 
all of which are far from being miraculous circum- 
stances. 

Although from the first it has been my constant 
aim and desire that brevity should be a distin- 
guishing characteristic in these historical sketch- 
es, it is scarcely needful to oiFer an apology for 
having expatiated so much on a subject which, 
by exhibiting in so striking a manner the power 
of opinion, is rendered memorable to posterity, 
and interesting to philosophers of all ages and na- 
tions. I shall, however, request your further in- 
dulgence for a few moments, w^hile I suggest some 
remarks on the contests which arose from the op- 
posite claims of Philip of Valois, and Edward III. 
to the French crown, 

49. Without consuming time in discussing the 



LETTERS ON FIIENCH HISTORY. 137 

validity of tliose pretensions, which are at this time 
uninteresting, I shall only wish you to observe, 
that the conquest of France, whether founded in 
equity or injustice, must have been greatly preju- 
dicial to Kngland. The presence of the monarch 
would have been almost always required in France 
a more central station than England, in respect of 
the other European powers; and its more agreea- 
ble climate would have concurred, with various 
other circumstances, to make it the royal residence. 
The nobility would have been attracted to that 
country, and England would soon have been re- 
garded only as an insular appendage to France. 
Paris would therefore have been the metropolis of 
the Anglo-Francic empire; and London, forsaken 
by the court and nobility, although its advantage- 
ous situation for commerce mieht have rendered 
it an opulent city, would have been nothing more 
than a provincial capital, and would never have 
attained to its present state of wealth, population, 
and grandeur. Such must have been the case, if 
France and England had been united, either by 
conquest, or peaceable succession. England 
would have been annexed to France, rather than 
France to England. Of the justness of this rea- 
soning, the succession of James I. to the English 
throne furnishes a sufficient proof. As Scotland, 
in later times, was annexed to England by the 
succession of a Scottish king to the English throne, 
so in the case here under consideration, England 
would have been annexed to France. Neither the 
French nor the English nation, however, contem- 
plated things in this light. The parliaments of 
jj 2 



l^S LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

Edward III. and Henry V. zealously supported 
the pretensions of those monarchs; and the peo- 
ple, dazzled by the ''ignis fatuus" of an ideal con- 
quest, seconded with ardour their views, of which 
the realization must have been so detrimental to 
JBngland, while the French nation obstinately op- 
posed a succession which would have spared 
oceans of blood, and millions of money, and been 
productive of incalculable advantages to France: 
Historians and orators frequently declaim against 
the ambition of kings; but they might with equal 
or perhaps greater propriety, reprobate the mad- 
ness of nations. Presuming that you will not think 
these reniarks unworthy of your attention. 

I remain, dear Sir, 

Your's, &c. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

L— -When did the wars between England and France 

begin? "f r ^- I 
From what isource did they originate? 
3.-«What caused the grand dispute concerning the 

French succession? , 

How was it decided? < 

"> _^ . 

o . — — — ■ 

4. — Who was James D'Arteville? 

5, What was the strength of the French fleet defeated 

, by Edward III? l,. V"^"" /i & 

6. What was the strength of Edward's army?' 

7.— 'How did James D'Arteville terminate his career? 

What measure did his death cause Edward HI. to 
adopt? 

9. In what year was the battle of Cresseyf i'^;^ f 

|0.— How long did the siege of Calais continue.^ 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 139 

When, and from what cause did Calais surrender to 
Edward III? 
ll.--In what years did the general pestilence happen? 

12. 

13. — What was the strength of the French and English 

armies, at the battle of Poictiers? 
J 4. — When did the battle of Poictiers take place? 
15. — Who governed France during the captivity of John? 
16.— What king of England advanced to the gates of Pa- 
ris? 
17. — In what year was the peace of Bretigny concluded? 
18. — Where did John king of France die? 

What was his military character? 
19. — In what state was France at the accession of Char. V? 

How did Charles get rid of the companies? 
20. — What general expelled the English from the greatest 

part of their possessions in France? 
12. — What was the character of Bertrand du Guesclin? 
22. — Who was the founder of the royal library at Parish 

23. ■ 

24. With what disease was Charles VI. seized? 

25. Who was accused of bewitching Charles VI? 

;26. Who was the most potent vassal of the French 

crown? 
^7. What prince of the blood was assassinated in the 

streets of Paris? 

28. What two factions divided the city of Paris? 

Who held Lewis the Dauphin a prisoner in the hotel 

of St. Paul? 
29, — When did Henry V. land at Havre de Grace? 
30. To what place was Henry V. retreating, when the 

battle of Agincourt took place? 

31, When was the battle of Agincourt fought? j 

32. Who made a terrible havoc of the Burgunflians at 

Paris? 
33, — Who made a great slaughter of the Orleans party? 
34. — When and where, and by whose order was John the 

Fearless, duke of Burgundy assassinated? 
When was the treaty of Troyes concluded? 
35, — Who was excluded from the succession by this treaty? 
36.— When did Charles VI. die? 



140 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

What was the character of his reign.' 
37. — Of what part of France was ihe king of England 
master? 
What part was under the dominion of the Dauphin, 
or Charles VII. 

38. u^, . 

39, — Who was the Maid of Orleans? 

What did she promise to Charles? 
40. — What was her first exploit? 

41. — Wlien did the English raise the siege of Orleans? 
42. — What opinion did the French and English entertain 

concerning the Maid of Orleans? 
43. — When was Charles VII. crowned at Rheims? 
44. — Of what crimes was the Maid ot Orleans accused? 

To what death was she condemned? 
45. — In what year did Paris surrender to Charles VII? /. 
How long had Paris been possessed by the English? 
In what year did the English lose Bordeaux? 
47, — How did Charles VII. spend his life? 

What was the state of France at the beginning and 

at the end of his reign? 

48. — Was the Maid of Orleans either saint or sorceress? 

49. — Whether would the union of the crowns of France 

and England have been of greater advantage to 

the former, or to the latter country? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



14 1 



LETTER IX. 

Comprising a period of one hundred and twenty- 
eight years^ from A, D, 1461, to A. D. 1589. 



Kings of France. 
Lewis XI. 



Coteinporarj kings of England. 



Edward IV. 



Charles VIII. 



llichard III. 
Henry VII. 



Lewis XII. 


Htjnry Vil. 
Henry VIII. 


Fiancis I. 

1# 


Henry VIII. 


ffenry II. 


Edward VI. 
Mary, queen. 
Elizabeth, queen. 


Francis II. 


Elizabeth, queen. 



Charles iX. 


Elizabeth, queen. 


Henry III. 


*• 
Elizabeth, qiieen. 



DEAR SIR, 

THE period of history which I now pre- 
sent to your view, is not so strikingly distinguish- 
ed by important events as that which was the sub- 
ject of my last communication; but yet it is not 
devoid of interest, nor unworthy of attrition, as it 
displays a great change in the state of society. 



us LETTEUS ON IRENCIl HISTORY. 

1. Lewis XI. succeeded his lather Charles VII. 
and immediately began to take measures for hum- 
bling the aristocracy. The nobles being alarmed, 
formed a confederacy, and flew to arms, having the 
count of Charolois, son of the duke oi Burgundy, 
at their head. The ^\ ar which ensued was called 
the war for the public good, although its authors 
had no such object m view. Neither its operations 
nor its issue, however, were important: the count 
of Charleroi laid siege to Paris, but without suc- 
cess: an indecisive action took place about twenty 
miles from that capital; and at last a treaty was 
concluded on terms favourable to the insurgents, 
but to which the king never intended to adhere. 

2. The nonfulfilment of the treaty on the part of 
Lewis was very near causing a second revolt of the 
nobles; and in order to avert the storm, the king- 
had a personal interview with the duke of Burgun- 
dy at Peronne, a town which the latter had in his 
possession. But at the same time he despatched 
emissaries to Liege, to excite the inhabitants to 
revolt against the duke of Burgundy. His agents 
executed their commission with success, but not 
with the secrecy he had expected. Intelligence 
was brought to Peronne, that the Liegois, insti- 
gated by the French emissaries, had revolted, and 
put the Burgundian garrison to the sword. The 
duke exasperated at the duplicity and ^perfidy of 
the French monarch, imprisoned him .in a castle 
where Charles the Simple had, five hundred and 
forty years before, ended his days in confinement. 
The king seeing himself in the po\\'er of his ene- 
■my, and uncertain of his fate, was obliged to con- 



LETTERS ON FBENCH HIStORY. 145 

dude a treaty extremely advantageous to the house 
of Burgundy, and submit to every condition that 
pride and resentment thought fit to impose: one of 
the most mortifying was, that he should march 
with the duke against Liege, and assist in the re- 
duction of a city which he himseli' had excited to 
revolt. The result was fatal to Liege: the city 
was taken and burnt, and the inhabitijnts wcvt put 
to the sword. Such were the direful effects of 
the cruel policy of Lewis: such are the fatal cala- 
mities in which the people are frequently involved, 
by the contentions ol the grc^at. 

3. One of the political maxims of Lewis Xf. 
was to avoid any quarrel with England, in order to 
be always at liberty to reduce the aristocracy of his 
own kingdom. He held a secret correspondence 
with several of the ministers and courtiers of Ld- 
ward IV. granted them pensions, and agreed to 
pay fifty thousand crowns annually to that prince 
during their joint lives, in order to induce him to 
desist from his pretensions to the provinces of 
France formerly possessed by the English. 

4. The greatest part of the reign of Lewis was 
spent in contests with his vassals, especially i^ith 
Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, until the 
fall of that prince in a battle fought against the 
Swiss, near the town of Nancy, in Lorrain^ — an 
event by which the French monarch got rid ol a 
vassal whose power and ambition was dangerous to 
the crown. On this occasion, however, the jealous 
policy and rapacity of Lewis led him into an error 
of which the consequences have been disastrous to 
France. While a marriage was negotiating be- 



144 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

tween the dauphin, his son, and Mary, daughter 
and heiress of Charles, the king, according to his 
rapacious policy, seized on the province of Artois 
and a great part of Burgundy. The Flemings, 
exasperated at such conduct, promoted the mar- 
riage of the heiress of Burgundy with Maximilian, 
son of the emperor Frederick III. by which the 
Netherlands w^ere transferred to the house of Aus- 
tria. This event was the source of various con« 
tests which in later times cost France and Austria 
so much blood and money. Lewis XV. being at 
Bruges in the year 1745, and seeing the tombs of 
Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary of Bur- 
gundy, expressed himself in these terms: '* There 
is the first cause of our wars." 

5. In order to depress the power of the nobles, 
( Lewis made use of two grand engines of power and 
policy, — the augmentation of the standing army 
left by his predecessor, and the direction of the 
national assemblies>, He increased his cavalry to 
fifteen thousand, and his infantry to twenty- five 
thousand, amongst whom were six thousand Swiss, 
at that time the best disciplined soldiers in Europe. 
With such a force well disciplined, and always 
ready for action, the disunited nobles, already 
weakened and impoverished by their intestine broils, 
were totally unable to contend. In order to main- 
tain this army, he increased the taxes in proportion. 
His predecessor Charles VII. never levied more 
than one million rJHit hiygigijlfl thousand livres per 
annum. Lewis increased the taxes to the annual 
amount of four millions seven hundred thousand 
fivres, which in that age was equivalent to about 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HTSTORV. 14tS 

twenty-three millions and a half of modern French 
money, or somewhat more than one million Ster- 
ling, — a larger revenue than, perhaps, any other 
European prince in that age possessed. In order 
to levy these large sums, he exerted all his address 
to influence the elections of the representatives of 
the commons, and to bribe or overawe the nobility 
and clergy. By these and various other modes of 
political craft, he acquired the complete direction 
of the assemblies of the states, which alone had 
the power of granting subsidies, and thus rendered 
them subservient to his purposes. 

6. By these artful and vigorous measures Lewis 
overturned the feudal system, and rendered him- 
self master of the resources of his kingdom. In 
taking a retrospect of the history of France, and 
reviewing the degraded state of her kings, the 
frequent devastation of her provinces by intestine 
wars, and the constant oppression of her people by 
the power of the feudal lords, the candid observer 
must acknowledge that scarcely any remedy could 
be too violent for evils so complicated and dread- 
ful; and that nothing less than the artful policy 
and unrelenting severity of Lewis XIL could have 
reduced to order such a chaos of confusion. 

7 When Lewis had, by employing every engine 
of violence and policy, accomplished his designs, 
he fell into a lingering disorder, which warned him 
of his approaching dissolution. But although he 
seemed to expect the stroke of death with those 
horrors of mind that result from a consciousness 
of guilt and appr^^hensions of punishment, he re- 
solved to support to the last moment his absolute- 
O 



I4t> LETTERS ON FRENCH IIFSTOUY, 

power, and provided by every possible means 
agaiii^t any atunipls which the lang'uid state of his 
health might encourage the nobles to make against 
his authority. Concealing as much as possible his 
sickness, and causing reports of his convalescence 
to be dailv circukUed, he shut himself up in the 
castle of Plessis les Tours, which he caused to be 
encompassed with massive bars of iron of an extra- 
ordinarv thickness, and at everv corner were watch- 
touers, strongly guarded with soldiers i 'llie gate 
was shut, and the bridge drawn up every night; 
and throughout the whole day the captains guarded 
their posts with the same vigilance as in a place 
closelv besieged. Within this impregnable fortress 
Lewis bade defiance to every mode of attack, while 
all the powers of medicine, every allurement of the 
sense, and all the inventions of superstition, were 
emploved to promote his recovery. Sacred relics 
were brought from various parts, that their effects 
on his health might be tried; and St. Francis of 
Paul was invited from Calabria, in order to restore 
bv his pravers the shattered frame of the monarch. 
The powers oi^ nuisic \\ere employed to revive his 
spirits, and the most beautiful girls were procured 
to dance in his presence, to the soimd of various 
instruments, for his amusement. In spite, how- 
ever, of all his precautions and endeavours, 'death, 
that irresistible assailant, \\ hose entrance all his iron 
bars, strong; walls, and wjde ditches, could not pre- 
vent, made Lewis his prey, on the 30th of August, 
A. D. 1483, in the sixty-first year of ; is age, and 
when the twenty second of his reign wanted only 
fifteen days of its expiration. 



LETTEItS ON FRENCH HlSTOItY. 147 

8. Philip de Commines has ])ourtraycd the cha- 
racter of Lewis XI. as well as related the events oi' 
his reign. (He appeared humble in his speech, his 
apparel, and deportment, but excessively tenacious 
of his authority; avaricious in his disposition, but 
extremely liberal when his policy required prolu- 
sion, severe in his temper, and incapable ol ailec- 
tion. He possessed, however, great natural abili- 
ties, and used to say that his whole council was in 
his head — a boast which he might with propriety 
make, as he consulted no person concerning the 
measures of his government. He was a friend to 
the people; but a tyrant to the nobles, whom he 
frequently coiifnied in iron cages, and sometimes 
loaded with heavy and galling fetters. ^His reign 
is particularly distinguished by the aggrandisement 
of the regal power, and the depression of the aris- 
tocracy. Uy seizure, purchase, or mortgage, he 
annexed many of the great fiefs to the crown, and 
before his demise the French monarchy had nearly 
taken its j)resent form. 

9. Charles VHI. succeeded his father Lewis XL 
in the fourteenth year of his age. f His reig*n de- 
rived a considerable brilliancy from his expedition 
to Naples; but his kingdom received no benefit 
from that undertaking.. Charles, resuming the 
ancient claims of the royal family of France to the 
crown of Naples, set out A. D. 1494, on his Ita- 
lian expedition. With an army not exceeding 
twenty thousand men, lie traversed Italy, the petty 
j)rinces and states of that country being too much 
divided amongst themselves to oppose his progress; 
and the king of Naples having retired at his ap- 



14iB LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV. 

proach, he made a triumphal entry into the capi- 
tal. The kingdom of Naples, however, was lost 
as rapidly as it had been conquered. The suc- 
cesses of Charles occasioned a league between the 
pope, the Venetians, the emperor, and Ferdinand 
king of Arragon, for the purpose of expelling the 
French out of Italy. The French monarch was, 
therefore obliged to retreat. At the battle of For- 
nova, in which he displayed the most signal proofs 
of valour, he forced a passage through his ene- 
mies, and with great difficulty effected his retreat 
into France. This prince died A. D. 1498, in 
the twenty- seventh year of his age, and the fif- 
teenth of his reign. His character was quite the 
reverse of that of his predecessor. He was as bold, 
open, and generous, as Lewis XI. was timorous, 
reserved, and insidious; but inferior to him in abi- 
lities. ; Commines describes Charles VIII. as **a 
little man both in body and understanding, but 
so good-natured, that it was impossible to meet 
with a better creature." His marriage with the 
heiress of Bretagne was an event of great benefit 
to France, by causing the annexation of that fief 
to the crown. 

10. Charles VIII. dying without male issue, was 
succeeded by Lewis, duke of Orleans, the first 
prince of the blood, known by the name of Lewis 
XII. This prince, deriving from his mother a 
claim to the duchy of Milan, and inheriting those 
of his predecessors to the kingdom of Naples, in- 
volved himself in a series of Italian wars, which 
continued almost the whole time of his reign. A 
detail of those wars, negotiations, treaties and con- 



Lf/VtEliH ON t'HENCH HlSrokv. 149 

fedcracies, in which most of the princes of Europe 
were concerned, but which are now almost buried 
in oblivion, would be uninteresting It suffices 
to say ihat Lewis was duped out of the kingdom 
of Naples by the perfidious policy of Ferdinand 
king of Spain, and that after having three times 
conquered and lost the Milanese, he terminated 
the contest without acquiring one foot of ground 
in Italy. / 

11. Lewis XII. departed this life A. D. 1515, 
in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and the seven- 
teenth of his reign, which had been almost wholly 
employed in the vain attempt of obtaining posses- 
sions in Italy. But notwithstanding his projects 
of aggrandisement, he was sparing of expenses, 
and was supposed to have sometimes injured his 
affairs by an ill-judged frugality. But he used to 
say, that he should rather wish his subjects to 
laugh at his parsimony than to weep under his op- 
pression. And it must be regarded as a remark- 
able circumstance in financial history, that in a 
reign of continual wars, the weight of taxation 
was greatly diminished. ^ 

12. This prince leaving only a female issue, the 
crown devolved on Francis I. who was descended 
in the male line from Charles V. being the great 
grandson of Lewis duke of Orleans, the second 
son of that monarch. Francis had no sooner as- 
cended the throne, than he marched into Italy, and 
the battle of Marignano, in which he signalized 
himself by his bravery, rendered him master of 
the Milanese. 

13. On the death of the emperor MaximiKan, 

o 2 



i60 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

A. D. 1519, Francis I. presented himself as a can^ 
didate for the imperial dignity. But the election 
was carried in favour of Charles V. king of Spain 
and sovereign of the Netherlands. : This compe- 
tition of Francis and Charles for the empire was 
the original source of the almost continual wars 
which, under various pretexts, were carried on 
between these two monarchs, 

14. The year 1520 was distinguished by the 
femous interview of Francis I. with Henry VIII. 
king of England, in a plain near Ardres, a town 
about eight miles south-east from Calais, where 
the two kings and their attendants displayed the 
magnificence of that age with such emulation and 
profusion of expense as caused that piece of ground 
to be denominated **Le Champ de Drap d'Or,'^ 
the field of cloth of gold. The nobles of France and 
England also exhibited their prowess in tourna- 
ments, wrestlings, and other exercises of chivalry; 
and sumptuous feasts closed these splendid scenes 
of amusement. 

15. In the following year, 152 1> the long wars 
between the French monarch and the emperor be- 
gan. These contests with the various negotia- 
tions, treaties, and confederacies to which they 
gave rise, afford ample materials for history, but 
their details would far exceed the limits of this 
epistolary correspondence. It must, therefore, 
suffice to draw a general sketch, distinguishing 
only some of the most striking and important 
events. 

16- Francis commenced his warlike operations 
by marching an army into Italy; and like his pre- 



LETTERS OX FliENCll HISTOKV 1^1 

clecessor, soon won and soon lost the Milanese. 
Charles V. reinstated Francis Sforza in the duke- 
dom of Milan; and the pope, the emperor, the 
king of England, Henry VIII. with the Venetians, 
Florentines, and Genoese, formed a league for the 
preservation of Italy against the attempts of the 
French monarch. This critical juncture was ren- 
dered still more dangerous to Francis by the de- 
fection of the constable of Bourbon, a prince of the 
blood royal, and one of the ablest generals of his 
age, who being dispossessed of his vast estates, 
in consequence of an unjust law suit instituted 
against him by the queen-dowager, in revenge of 
his slighting her proposals of marriage, abandon- 
ed France and engaged in the service of the empe- 
ror. The confederated powers now concerted a 
plan for invading France from Germany, Spain, 
and England, at the same time. All those dif- 
ferent attacks were made; but the invaders were 
repelled in every quarter, and forced to evacuate 
the country. 

17. These successes of the French were in a 
short time more than counterbalanced by their 
misfortunes in Italy. Francis having marched an 
army over the Alps, made himself master of Milan. 
This success, however, was only a prelude to 
dreadful disasters, the baleful effects of his impru- 
dence. Having undertaken the siege of Pavia, 
he inconsiderately weakened his army by sending 
a strong detachment to Naples, and another to Sa- 
vona. The imperial generals Lannoy, Pescara, 
and Bourbon, with their united forces, advanced 
to the relief of the besieged city. This move* 



152 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ment ushered in the memorable battle of Pavia, 
which was fought on the 24th of February, A. D. 
1525, and proved so disastrous to France. After 
a most obstinate -and sanguinary conflict, the in- 
trenchments of the French were forced by the 
Spaniards and Imperialists, and their army was to- 
tally routed. The king having his horse killed 
under him, was surrounded by his enemies. Al- 
though on foot, and wounded in several places, he 
defended himself with the most heroic valour 
against numerous assailants, till at length, being 
quite exhausted, he was obliged to surrender him- 
self prisoner, and was conveyed into Spain, where 
the emperor at that time resided. In a letter which 
he wrote to his mother soon after this disaster, he 
expressed himself in these words: ^'Madame, eve- 
ry thing is lost except our honour." 

18. The disastrous issue of the battle of Pavia 
filled France with consternation. The king of 
England and the princes of Italy also began to be 
alarmed at the exorbitant power of ChaHes V. and 
to turn their attention to the political balance of 
Europe. Negociations were commenced between 
the French monarch and the emperor, but were 
protracted by various objections and difficulties*. 
Francis, however, at length, on the 14th of Janua- 
ry, 1526i, signed a treaty, the conditions of which 
he never intended to fulfil;! and thus having obtain- 
ed his liberty,* after nearly eleven months of tedi- 
ous confinement at Madrid and other places, he 
returned into his own kingdom. 

19. The refusal of the French king to adhere 
to^ the stipulations of this treaty exasperated the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 153 

emperor; and the wars between these two princes 
being renewed, continued with little interruption 
during the whole of this reign. These contests, 
however, produced no important effects on the 
power or the politics of France; but they prevent- 
ed Charles V. from carrying into execution the 
project of universal monarchy, which he is sup- 
posed to have formed. 

20. Francis I. died A. D. 1547, in the fifty- 
third year of his age, and the thirty-third of his 
reign, which was marked by great misfortunes and 
an enormous expenditure of blood and of money. 
A restless ambition and enterprising spirit were 
prominent traits in his character. In personal va- 
lour he could not be excelled, but it is unnecessa- 
ry to bring forwards any other instance than that 
of his conduct previous to the battle of Pavia, to 
show that although he possesed in the most emi- 
nent degree all the qualifications of the soldier, he 
was deficient in those of the general. His mind, 
indeed, was strongly tinctured with tlie spirit of 
chivalry, and his conduct was not always directed 
by sound policy. ; In personal courage he was ap- 
parently superior to his great rival Charles V. but 
in political sagacity, he was certainly his inferior. 
Monduc, a French historian, observes, that "the 
ambition of those two princes was the ruin of a 
million of families." What a picture is here ex- 
hibited of the miseries which wars bring upon 
mankind ? 

21, The disposition of Francis is represented 
as generous and humane; but it is evident that he 
was always ready to sacrifice the happiness of his 



1^4 LETTERS ON Fl^ENCH HISTORY. 

subjects to his own glory. ; And his persecution 
of ;;lie Protestants, whose doctrines had begun to 
make some progress in France, must appear in the 
eyes of an enhghtened posterity as no small stain 
on his memory; but rehgious bigotry and intole- 
rance were the unhappy characteristics of that age, 

22. But Francis I. was the patron of learning, 
and under this title, his character shines with dis- 
tinguished lustre. Providence had placed his reign 
in the happy period of the revival of letters, and 
seizing an opportunity so favourable to his future 
fame, he shared with pope Leo X. the glory of 
making arts, sciences, and literature flourish. The 
revival of letters, by enlarging the minds and ex- 
tending the ideas of men, multiplied their wants, 
and gave an impulse to commerce, of which Fran- 
cis was also the patron and promoter, dnd amidst 
the martial transactions that occupied his reign, 
the sijk manufacture was established in France, 
which afterwards ir . )urce of wealth to the 

kingdom ^ val of learning, the ex- 

^ejision the splenrlour of his 

rr>'^' ^ I his martial exploits, 

:^'rancis L conspicuous 
in histor3\ 

24. This prince was succeeded by his son Hen- 
ry II. whose whole reign was spent in a continua- 
tion of the war against Charles V. and Philip 
II. his successor in the kingdom of Spain. En- 
gland having at length been drawn into the quar- 
rel by Philip II. of Spain, the duke of Guise made 
himself master of Calais, the last remnant of the 
English possessions in France. This importJ^it 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 155 

conquest took place A. D. 1558, after Calais had 
been two hundred and eleven years in the hands 
of the English, since its surrender to Edward III. 

24. The conquest or rather the recovery of Ca- 
lais was the last important transaction of a military- 
nature that marked the reign of Henry II. In the 
following year he issued an edict which must be 
considered as an eternal stain on his memory: it 
inflicted the penalty of death against dissenters from 
the church, with a strict order to the judges *'not 
to mitigate the punishment as had hitherto been 
the practice." This reign was also distinguished 
by the first edict that ever was pubHshed for fixing 
the limits of Paris, which was now grown so large 
a city, that the government considered its further 
extension as prejudicial to the rest of the kingdom. 

25., Henry II, was accidently killed at a tourna- 
ment, A. D. 1559. amidst the entertainments oc- 
casioned by the marriage ofhis daughter with Phi- 
lip II. king of Spain, and ofhis sister with the 
duke of Savoy. His tragical death happened in 
the forty second year ofhis age, and the thirteenth 
of his reign. His character is not marked by any 
distinguishing trait; but he had either the sagaci- 
ty or the good fortune to choose able ministers 
and generals. 

26. 'I'he short reign of his son Francis II. was 
not marked by any important event; but it was 
pregnant with evils, which in the succeeding 
reigns convulsed and desolated France. This 
prince was married to Mary, daughter of James V, 
king of Scotland, afterwards designated by the ti- 
tle of '*Queen of Scots;' ^ whose beauty and mis- 



1'56 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

fortunes are celebrated in English history and in 
dramatic poetry. Francis, duke of Guise, and 
his brother the cardinal of Lorrain, the queen's 
uncles, were placed at the head of the administra- 
tion. Against the Guises, the king of Navarre 
and the prince of Conde had influence sufficient ta 
form a party; and the ambitious grandees foment- 
ed those divisions with a view of profiting by the 
public calamities. The doctrines of the reformers 
had now, in spite of persecution, become general- 
ly diffused throughout the kingdom, and religion 
was a specious pretext used by both parties. The 
Guises pretending an ardent zeal for the ancient 
mode of worship, to which the body of the nation 
still adhered, found means to maintain their influ- 
ence and authority, while the princes of the blood 
endeavoured by encouraging the love of novelty to 
supply the want of power. France was therefore 
in the reign of this monarch a hot-bed of mischiefs 
the plants of which were matured under those of 
his successors. 

27. Francis II. died A, D. 1560, in the eigh- 
teenth year of his age, after a reign of seventeen 
months, and was succeeded by his brother Charles 
IX. who was only ten years old at his accession. 
Four civil wars, and the horrible massacre of St. 
Bartholomew, form the melancholy history of his 
reign. During his minority the administration of 
public affairs was in the hands of his mother; but 
the duke of Guise and his brother the cardinal 
still preserved their influence. 

28. The first civil war between the Catholics 
and the Protestants, who were then called Hugue-. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 157 

Hots commenced, A. D. 1562. To detail the va- 
rious causes or rather pretext of these wars, or 
even to particularise their operations, would lead 
to a tedious prolixity. The principal events alone 
can therefore be comprised within the limits of 
these historical sketches* The prince of Conde 
being declared commander in chief of the Protest- 
ants, commenced his operations by the surprise 
of Orleans. Others of their ,s^enerals possessed 
themselves of several other cities and towns, par- 
ticularly of Rouen, where the king of Navarre 
was mortally wounded in the trenches before the 
place, and soon after died. In the same year was 
fought the battle of Dreux, in which both the 
prince of Conde, and the constable of Montmo- 
rency, the Catholic general, were taken prisoners, 
and the duke of Guise gained a complete victory 
over the Protestants. The duke was now in the 
zenith of his greatness, but having in the follow- 
ing year laid siege to Orleans, he was assassina- 
ted by a wretched fanatic of the name of Poltrot. 
The same year a peace was concluded on terms 
very favorable to the Huguenot party. 

29. The war broke out again, A. D. 1567, and 
in the same year was fought the battle of St, 
Denis, with so doubtful an issue that both sides 
claimed the victory; but the Catholics sustained 
a severe loss in the death of their general Annede 
Montmorenci, constable of France, who, although 
seventy-four years of age, had on this as on many 
other occasions displayed jin extraordinary cour- 
age, and did not fall until he had received eight 
mortal wounds. 
P 



158 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

30. A treaty of peace was concluded A. D. 
1568: but before the end of the year the war was 
renewed. The following year was distinguished 
by the bloody battle of Yarnac in which the duke 
of Anjou totally defeated the Protestants com- 
manded by the prince of Conde, who here termi- 
nated his restless and ambitious career. The tra- 
gical end of this great commander and prince of 
the blood is worthy of particular notice. Al- 
though one of his legs was broken at the moment 
when the action commenced, he still kept the 
field, until after having received several other 
severe wounds he was at length taken prisoner. 
He was now so weak and exhausted by loss of 
blood and fatigue, that two officers took him in 
their arms oft' his horse and carried him under a 
bush; but the baron de Montesquieu, captain of 
the guards to the duke of Anjou, coming up shot 
him through the head. Henry prince of B^arn, 
afterwards Henry IV. was now declared the head 
of the Protestant party, but on account of his 
youth, the admiral de Coligni was the acting com- 
mander. On the 3d of October 1569, the Pro- 
testants were again defeated in the sanguinary con- 
flict of Monteontour by the duke of Anjou. In 
tlie following year a third treaty of peace was con- 
cluded, and many advantages were granted to the 
Protestant party. 

31. But this deceitful calm was the harbinger 
of a dreadful storm which soon fell on the devoted 
heads of the Huguenots. In order to lull them 
into a greater serurity,*he court proposed a mar- 
riage between Margaret, the king's sister, and 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 159 

Henry, prince of Beam, son of the queen of Na- 
varre, and at the same time pretended to make 
preparations for a war ai^ainst Spain, 

32. The admiral de Coligni was drawn to Pa- 
ris by the vast preparations for war, the king hav- 
ing promised him the command of an expedition 
against the Netherlands. The queen of Navarre 
also came to attend the nuptials of her son; but 
she died soon after her arrival. On her demise 
her son Henry took the title of king of Navarre; 
and his marriage with Margaret, sister of Charles 
IX. was soon after solemnised. How agreeable 
would it be to the feelings of humanity, if impar- 
tial history could draw a veil over the horrible 
scenes which followed, and that time could bury 
them in eternal oblivion! 

33. But posterity can never forget the horrid 
massacre of the Huguenots at Paris, on the feast of 
St. Bartholomew, A. D. 1 1572^' an execrable tran- 
saction which never has and it may be hoped will 
never have its parallel. The chiefs of the party 
being allured to that capital by the friendly profes- 
sions of the court, were in that fatal night most 
cruelly murdered. There fell on this lamentable 
occasion, near five hundred persons of note, 
amongst whom was the celebrated admiral de Co- 
ligni, whose abilities and virtues have rendered his 
name immortal in history. The king of Navarre 
and the prince of Conde saved their lives by re- 
cantation. The number of victims has never been 
ascertained: but it is supposed, that in Paris alone, 
they amounted to almost ten thousand of every 
age, sex, and condition: and the orders of the court 



160 IvETTERS ON FRENCH IIlSTOIiY. 

being sent to all parts of the kingdom, a similar 
carnage took place in several other places. His- 
tory, however, in relating these horrid transac- 
tions, affords us pleasure in recording, that there 

t were some governors of cities and provinces who 
were shocked at the idea of promoting the cause 
of religion by murder, and had the humanity and 
courage not to execute those detestable orders. 

' To these men, whose conduct was an honour to 
the species, statues ought to have been erected in 
commemoration of their merit. | 

34. The Huguenots now seemed to be entirely 
crushed; yet they collected sufficient force to com- 
mence, in the following year, a fourth civil war. 
Hostilities were soon terminated by a treaty of 
peace, which shewed the weakness of the govern- 
ment, and the strength of the Protestants, after all 
tlie endeavors that had been used to accomplish 
their destruction. 

35. Soon after the Bartholomew massacre, 
Charles IX. fell into a lingering disorder, of which 
iiedied, A. D. 1574, in the twenty-fourth or twenty- 
fifth year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign. 

^His character seems to have resembled that of 
Nero:/ like that Roman emperor, he was violent 
and impetuous in his temper, and cruel in his dis- 
position: like him, he took a delight in the softer 
arts, v/hich tend to humanise the mind: he en- 
couraged learning, and his poetical talents w^ere 
fer from being contemptible; qualities which would 
appear incompatible with the crimes committed 
by his orders, if history did not furnish various in- 
stances of a similar nature If an v excuse can be 



LETTETiS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 161 

found for his conduct, it must be drawn from his 
youth and want of experience, which rendered him 
unable to steer a right course, amidst the intrigues 
of evil counsellors and ambitious subjects, who 
were continually raising tempests in the state. 
After all, however, that his apologists can advance 
in his favor, the Bartholomew massacre has brand- 
ed his name with eternal infamy. 

36, During the reign of this prince, the royal 
authority was greatly impaired by the intestine 
broils which agitated the kingdom. Many good 
laws, however, were enacted, and many regula- 
tions were made, that have been highly conducive 
to the public welfare. For these, France was in- 
debted to the chancellor de l'Hopital,> magistrate 
and civilian alDove all praise, who watched over 
the safety of the country, and in the midst of civil 
commotions, caused the venerable majesty of the 
laws to be respected. 

37. Charles IX leaving no legitimate male is- 
sue, was succeeded by his brother^;, Henry III. 
formerly duke of Anjou, who had in the preceding 
year been elected to the crown of Poland, but now 
returned to take possession of his patrimonial in- 
heritance. J This prince was no sooner seated on 
the throne of France, than he renewed the war with 
the Huguenots, who had the young prince of 
Conde, and the mareschal D'Anville at their head; 
but the duke d'Alencon soon joined them, and 
took the command of their forces. The king of 
'Navarre having escaped from Paris, also repaired 
to the army, and again made profession of the Pro- 
testant religion. The war was carried on with va- 

p 2 



i(>:^ LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

rioiis success, but without any important events: 
and in the year 1576, a treaty ot peace was con- 
cluded, the most advantageous that the Protest- 
ants had hitherto obtained. 

38. This pacification exasperated the Catholics, 
and gave rise to the famous confederacy known by 
the name of the ''Holy League." Its purport 
was to prevent the exercise of any other mode of 
worship than that of the Catholic religion; and it 
was signed by the king, the duke of Anjou, Henry 
duke of Guise, and a number of other princes and 
nobles. This confederacy was, in fact, a declara- 
tion of war against the Huguenots, and hostilities 
immediately recommenced. The king however, 
soon found, that the league was no longer under 
his controul,( but under that of the duke of Guise^ 
by whom its formation had been chiefly promoted.) 

39. The death of the duke of Anjou« A. D. 
1584, having made the king of Navarre/the pre- 
sumptive heir of Henry HI. furnished the duke 
of Guise with a pretext for alarming the league 
with apprehensions of a successor to the crown, 
who was not of the Catholic religion. The dukes 
of Guise and Lorrain were now proclaimed lieute- 
nant-generals of the confederacy; and the king of 
Navarre, together with the prince of Conde, were 
declared incapable of the succession. 

..^ 40. France was now divided into three great 
parties; and from the respective chiefs, this was 
called the war of the three Henries. 3 Henry III. 
king of France, was at the head of the royalists; 
Henry, king of Navarre, commanded the Protest- 
ants; and Henry, duke of Guise, son of Francis 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV. lOo 

who was assassinated at the siege of Orleans, was 
chief of the league- The war was not marked by 
any important event, but the kingdom was vio- 
lently agitated by these divisions. 

41. In the year 1587, the supreme council of 
the league, called the council of sixteen, having 
formed a scheme for dethroning the king, intelli- 
gence was given him of this design; but nothing 
could awake him out of his lethargy. The duke 
d'Epernon, however, found means to secure the 
Bastile and the arsenal, which the conspirators 
wanted to get into their possession; and the duke 
of Mayenne, being under apprehensions for his 
personal safety, withdrew from Paris. The king 
of Navarre having marched into Burgundy to join 
a body of German auxiliaries, the duke de Joy- 
euse, in order to prevent this junction, resolved to 
hazard a battle. The king of Navarre gained the 
victory; land the duke de Joyeuse lost his life, be- 
ing murdered in cold blood after he was made pri- 
soner. /But these losses of the leaguers were com- 
pensated by the successes of the duke of Guise, 
who defeated and dispersed the German troops, 
and at last drove them out of France. 

42. At this juncture, the council of sixteen 
pressed the duke of Guise to advance to Paris; 
but the king forbade him to set foot in that city. 
The duke, however, in spite of this prohibition, 
entered the capital with a strong escort; and the 
king's troops were obliged to ijive way to the re- 
bels. Henry III. now seeing himself surrounded 
with difficulties and dangers, retired to Chartres; 

\ and the duke of Guise <being left in possession of 



164 LEtTEKS ON FllKNCK HISTOttY, 

Paris, imniediately seized on the Bastile and the 
arsenal. Through the influence ol the dowager 
queen, Catharine de Medicis, a treaty of peace 
was eonckided; and the king was induced to sign 
the edict of re-union, which provided that the 
crown should not devolve on a Protestant. 

43. This was the season of ambitious intrigue* 
Catharine de Medicis, to whom all parties, whether 
Catholic or Protestant, had ever been equal, if she 
could only maintain her authority and influence, 
now seeing the king her son without issue, joined 
the duke of Guise, ifwith the view of placing the 
crown on the head of her grandson, the duke of 
Lorrain, by the exclusion of the Bourbon branch 
of the royal family /'The duke of Guise, wtio was 
evidently aspiring tb the throne, endeavoured to 
convert to his own advantage, this disposition of 
the queen, without letting her perceive his design, 
which he carefully concealed from his friends as 
well as from his enemies. / His professions to the 
pope, to the king of Spain, to the duke of Lor- 
rain, to the cardinal de Bourbon, were all difter- 
en^, and these princes were promoting his views, 
while they imagined themselves to be pursuing 
their own interests. 

44. The duke was now within a step of the 
tlirone. Being a man of consummate abilities, and 
the idol of the Parisians, he saw himself placed in 
circumstances nearly similar to those which ena- 
bled Pepin to establish a new dynasty. But his 
ambitious career was diawing towards a tragical 
termination, i Henry HLJin order to rid himself 
of so dangerous a subject, adopted a measure un^ 



r.KTTEUS ON FRENrH HTSTORY. 165 

worthy of a great monarch. The states -general 
being assembled at Blois, the duke of Guise, and 
his brotlier the cardinal, who were come to attend 
at the conferences, were assassinated by the king's 
orders. 

42. This infamous action produced an effect 
very different from that which Henry had expect- 
ed. The duke of Mayenne, brother to the duke 
of Guise, was received in Paris as the head of the 
league, j with the title of lieutenant-general of the 
kingdom of France: Henry HI. was declared un- 
worthy to reign, and his subjects were by a decree 
of the Sorbonne, released I'rom their allegiance. 

46. In this extremity, Henry seeing himself 
abandoned by his Catholic subjects, joined the 
king of Navarre and the Protestants; and having 
received a reinibrcement of ten thousand Swiss, 
the two princes, with an army of above thirty thou- 
sand men, advanced to Paris, and invested that 
capital. While they were occupied in the siege, 
Henry HI. was assassinated by James Clement, a 
Dominican friar, only twenty -two years of age. 
The duke of Mayenne, as well as his sister, the 
duchess of Montpensier, was strongly suspected 
of being concerned in the murder; but as the as- 
sassin was instantly massacred by the guards, his 
death prevented an}' farther discovery. /' The tra- 
gical death of this monarch, which happened on 
the 1st of August, A. D. 1589, in the thirty-eighth 
year of his age, and the sixteenth of his reign, 
within less tlum nine months after the duke and 
the cardinal of Guise had been assassinated Ijy his 
direction, may be regarded as a just retribution of 



166 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

Providence, although no excuse can be found fqr 
the regicide. 

47. The character of Henry III. seems to hava 
altered with his situation; and he appeared to be 
worthy of a crown, until it came into his posses- 
sion. While he was duke of Anjou, and com- 
manded the armies of his brother, Charles IX. he 
acquired the reputation of a bold and successful 
warrior; but after he was seated on the throne, he 
distinguished himself only by his weakness and 
superstition. \ He established religious confrater- 
nities, and exposed himself in ridiculous progres- 
sions, instead of promoting the cause of religion, 
by banishing licentiousness and debauchery from 
the court. His levity rendered him suspected both 
by Catholics and Protestants; and by a life equal- 
ly superstitious and criminal, he drew upon him- 
self the contempt of all parties. His fortune was 
not less singular than his character: : he abandoned 
the crown of Poland, to which he had been elected; 
and he was driven by rebellion from the throne of 
France, which he inherited: he spent his whole 
life in making war against the Protestants, and at 
last he was murdered by the Catholics. ) 

48. The turbulent reign of Henry HI. although 
almost wholly consimied in civil wars, was produc- 
tive of some benefits to the people. The com- 
mencement of the reign of Philip the Hardy, A. D. 
1270, presents the first instance of letters of nobi- 
lity granted to plebians. The practice gained 
ground under his successor, and in process of time 
became common. This custom introduced the 
sale of fiefs to the commons, an innovation in some 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 167 

measure owing to the lords themselves, and encou- 
raged by the kings, in the view of diminishing 
the power of the aristocracy. The nobles being 
impoverished by luxury, were desirous of selling 
a p.irt, or sometimes the whole of their lands; and 
the commons, enriched by the gradual progress of 
commerce and industry, obtained in this reign the 
privilege of being purchasers of the estatesj but 
witiiout the titles or any feudal jurisdiction. > And 
an ordinance was published, declaring that nobi- 
lity could be acquired only by letters patent from 
the king, or by the possession of certain offices 
and employments. 1 hus a great part of the land 
of the kingdom passed into the hands of the com- 
mons, \vithout transferring to their new possessors 
the dangerous powers of the ancient aristocracy, a 
circumstance equally advantageous to the crown, 
and beneficial to the people. And here the accu- 
rate observer cannot but perceive, that the kings 
of France and of England, and indeed most of the 
princes of Europe, adopted the same measures, — 
the enfranchisement of villains, the institution of 
corporations with charters of privileges and immu- 
nities, together with the enacting of laws autho- 
rising the nobles to sell, and the commons to pur- 
chase landed property, in order to undermine and 
weaken the feudal system, and augment the power 
of the crown, as well as to render the people more 
happy. But it must at the same time be observed, 
that ail the eflfbrts of sovereigns to accomplish this 
great purpose were ineffectual, until commerce 
and industry had raised the commons to a state of 
ronsideral)le affluence.. 



168 LETTERS ©N FITENCH HISTOUl. 

49. You have now, my dear Sir, been conduct- 
ed through the tempestuous reigns of the princes 
of the house of Valois. In the portion of history 
which this letter presents to your view, you will 
readily perceive, that the civil wars between the 
Catholic and Protestant parties, form the most 
prominent feature. These intestine commotions 
have been ascribed to theological differences: but 
' religion was only the pretext^ ambition was the 
real cause from which they originated. / The gran- 
dees, desirous of regaining those powers which 
they had lost by the decline of the feudal system, 
considered the disputes concerning religion, as 
affording a favourable opportunity for accomplish- 
ing that purpose. A factious courtier had only 
to embrace the Protestant religion, and profess 
himself a leader of that party, to have an army at 
his disposal. The Catholics and the Protestants 
were equally bigotted and fanatical; and being in- 
capable of penetrating the designs of their chiefs, 
crowded to their standards, rushed into battle, and 
shed their blood, not for the glory of God and the 
interest of religion, as they foolishly imagnied, 
but to promote the ambitious views of a Guise or 
a Conde, a duke d'Alencon, or a Catharine de 
Medicis. Treason, perfidy, and murder, were the 
engines which both Catholics and Protestants 
used for the attainment of their objects. The 
-assassination of Francis duke of Guise, by a Pro- 
testant fanatic; of Henry duke of Guise and his 
brother, by the command of Henry HI. and of 
that monarch himself, by a Catholic bigot; without 
mentioning the murder of the prince of Conde, 



LETTERS ON FREN'CH HISTOftY. l6y 

and the duke de Joyeuse, in cold blood, when tak- 
en prisoners in battle; and above all, the horrid 
Bartholomew massacre, are shocking proofs, that 
no crime, however heinous, excited any scruple 
in either party. The recollection of these enormi- 
ties is painful to humanity; but, unfortunately, 
they are not peculiar to France: England, and al- 
most every other country, have had their days of 
persecution, religious intolerance, civil war, and 
rebellion. Happily the times are now changed; 
but a review of those scenes, occasioned by pros- 
tituting religion to secular purposes, however dis- 
gusting, is not uninstructive to the Christian and 
the moral philosopher. With sincere affection and 
esteem, I have the honour to be, 

Dear Sir, 

Your's, &e. 

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — What were the first measures of Lewis XI? 

2. — Where, and by whom, was Lewis XL confined as a 

prisoner? 
3. — What treaty did Lewis XL conclude with Edward 

IV, of England? 
4. — How was the greatest part of his reign employed? 
5. — What means did he use to depress the nobles? 
6. — What system did he overturn? 
7. — Where and when did Lewis XL die? 

What means did he use to secure his authority, and 

proloHg his existence? 
8. —What was the character of Lewis XI? 

By what was his reign chiefly (listinguished? 
9. — What enterprise gave a brilliancy to the reign tf 

Charles VIII? 

Q 



170 LETTEKS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

What was the character of that prince? 

10. — How was Lev/is Xll. duped out of the kingdom of 
Naples? 

1 1. — By what remarkable circumstanceis the financial his- 
tory of his reign distinguished? 

X2. Who succeeded Lewis XII? 

13, — What was the original cause of the wars between 
Francis I. and Charles V? 

14. Where did the celebrated interview between Fran- 
cis I. and Henry VIII. of England, take place? : 

15. When did the wars between Francis and Charles be- 



17.-.« Where and when, was Francis taken prisoner? 

18. — -How long was Francis a prisoner in Spain? 

19.^- What did the wars between France and Charles pre- 
vent the latter from executing? . , 

f20. — What was the military character of Francis I? 

What comparison may be made between liiui and 
Charles V? 

21, What is the chief stain on his memory? 

2£^ Under what title does the character of Francis shine 

with the greatest lustre? 

23, In the reign of what king of France was Calais taken 

from the English? 

24, Who inflicted the penalty of death on those who dis- 
sented from the church? 
In what reign was the first edict for fixing the limits 
of Paris? 

Q5. How did Henry II. terminate his life? 

26. Who was the consort of Francis II? 

What might France be called during the short reign 
of Francis II? 

27. ^What events marked the reign of Charles IX? 

28,— When did the first war between the Catholics and 
the Huguenots begin? 

29.-~Where, and in what year, did the constable, Anne de 
Montmojency, fall in battle? 

30.-- In what battle did the prince of Conde fall? 



31 



LETTEliS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 171 



S2. — ^ -— 

S3.— In what year was the Bartholomew massacre? / ; 

Who deserved to liave statues erected to their me- 
mory? 

34. 

35. — What was the character of Charles IX? 

To whom may Ijc t>e compared? 
36. — To whom was France indebted for tlie good laws 

enacted in the reign of Charles IX? 
37. — By whom was Charles IX. succeeded? 
S8.— Under whose control was the league? 
39. — Who was the presumptive heir to the crown? 
40. — Into what parties was the French nation divided? 
41. — How was the duke dc Joyeuse killed? 
42. — Who was left in possession of Paris? 
43.'^^yhat were the views of Catharine de Medicis? 

'■ What wen e the views of the duke of Guise? 
44. — ^By whose order were the duke and the cardinal ot 
: -t Guiise assassinated? 

45. — Who was afterwards chief of the league? 
46. — Where, and when, and by whom, was Henry III. 

assassinated? 
47. — What was the character of rler,ry III? 

What were the singularities of his fortune? 
48. — Wliat were the measures adopted by the kings of 
France and other princes, for overturning the feu- 
dal system? 
What circumstances enabled them to accomplish 
that purpose? 
49. — What was the pretext for the civil wars? 
W^hat was the real cause? 

For what end did the Catholics and the Protestants 
shed their blood? 



172 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 



LETTER X. 

Comprising a period of hvo hundred and three 
years, from A. D. 1589, to A, Z). 1792. 



Kings of France. 



Colemporarj kings of England. 



lienrv- IV. surnamed 
the Great. 



Lewii XIII. 



Elizabeth, Queen. 



Kin^s of Great Britain. 



James I. 



.Tames I. 
Charles I. 



Lewis XIV. 


Chailes I. 
Charles II. 
James II. 
William III. 
Aune, queen. 
George I. 



TiCvvis XV. 



Lewis XVI. 



George I. 
George II. 
George ill. 



George III. 



DEAR SIR, 

YOU are now to commence the review of 
a period in which France, as well as England, 
made a rapid and extraordinary progress in science, 
letters, and commerce, and obtained a high repii- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 173 

tation in arts and in arms: The commencement 
of this period is marked by the accession of the 
house of Bourbon; which, after being expelled by 
a tremendous revolution, is now again seated on 
the throne, and the whole of its history is highly 
interesting to an Englishman. 

1. The tragical exit of Henry III. which ter- 
minated the reign of the branch of Valois, left the 
king of Navarre legitimate heir to the crown of 
France. This prince, who ascended the throne 
by the name of Henry I V.f^was a descendant of Ro- 
bert count of Clermont, the sixth son of St. Lew- 
is. • JRobert had married the heiress of Bourbon; 
and thie crown devolved, by legitimate succession, 
on his descendant, Henry IV. after being posses- 
sed, during the space of three hundred years, by 
the elder branches of the royal race. 1 

2. Henry, however, was acknowledged as sove- 
reign only by a part of the nation j and several of 
the nobles, with a considerable number of the 
troops, withdrew from his camp. The king, 
therefore, raised the siege of Paris, and retired in- 
to Normandy, where his army was reinforced by 
a body of English, which queen Elizabeth sent to 
his assistance. Having twice defeated the duke 
de Mayenne, he again laid siege to Paris; and the 
citizens, animated by their enthusiasm, sustained a 
most grievous famine with unshaken constancy. 
The king of Spain ordered the duke of Parma to 
march from the Netherlands to the relief of Paris; 
but his arrival would have been too late if Henry 
had been willing to take the city by assault, which 
he might easily have effected. Nothing, however, 

q.2 



174 LETTERS ON FRENCH HlSTORV. 

could induce this benevolent prince to expose the 
capital of his kingdom to the risk of destruction. 
He retired at the approach of the Spaniards; and 
the duke of Parma having thrown supplies of 
troops and provisions into Paris, returned to the 
Netherlands. 

3. The war continued with various success in 
almost every part of the kingdom. Henry was 
aided by Elizabeth of England, who courted the 
alliance of France, in order to counterbalance the 
formidable power of Spain. On the other hand, 
Philip n. supported the league with the view of 
placing the crown on the head of his daughtqr:.4_3a- 
bella Eugenia, as the nearest relative of Hfitry HI. 
Philip, in defiance of the Salique law, made this 
proposal to an assembly of the states convened at 
Paris; but it was rejected as contrary to the funda- 
mental constitution of the kingdom. 

4. Henry soon after entered into a conference 
with the leaguers; and seeing it impossible to be- 
come master of the kingdom by force, he resolv- 
ed to renounce the Protestant religion, which was 
the only obstacle that stood in his way to the 
throne. He accordinglv made his abjuration at 
St. Denis, on the 25th of July, A. D. 1593, and 
notified it to all the parliaments. The pope, how- 
ever, at the instigation of Philip, raised various ob- 
jections against granting him absolution; but his 
abjuration gave a finishing blow to the league, in 
spite of the opposition of Spain and Rome. The 
chiefs made their peace with the king: Paris open- 
ed her gates; the duke de Feria with the Spanish 
troops retired from the city and Henry entered 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORVT. Uo 

his capital amidst the acclamations of the people. 
Several of the rebellious nobles, particularly the 
dukes of Mayenne, Mercoeur, Nemours, and 
Epernon, held out for some time but at length 
made their submission. The whole kingdom 
was united under its legitimate sovereign. And 
after a tedious train of negotiations, which were 
constantly impeded by the intrigues of the Spanish 
monarch, Henry at length received absolution from 
Rome. 

5. In the same year 1595, Henry declared war 
against Spain. Hostilities were carried on with 
vai^qs success until A. D. 1598, when the peace 
of Verv^ns was concluded, on terms advantageous 
to France. And in that year also Henry IV. is- 
sued the edict of Nantes, which guaranteed to the 
the Protestants the free and full exercise of their 
religion. 

6. Some writers affirm that Henry had formed 
the project of uniting all Europe in a grand confe- 
deracy, of which France was to be the head. But 
this appears to be a chimera. It seems, however, 
that towards the end of his reign, he was medita- 
ting some great design against Spain; but his tra- 
gical death buried his schemes in oblivion. \ This 
great monarch was assassinated while passing in 
his coach through the Rue de la Feronnerie at Pa- 
ris. The duke d' Epernon, and some other noble- 
men, were with him in the carriage; but the stroke 
was so sudden as to be unavoidable, and so fatal 
that he almost instantaneously expired. The re- 
gicide, whose name was Francis Ravillac, was im- 
mediately seized, and suiFered the punishment 
due to so horrid a crime. \ 



176 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

7. Henry IV. deservedly surnamed the Great, 
was assassinated A. D. 1610, iu the fifty -eighth 
year of his age, and the twenty-first of a glorious 
and beneficent reign. He was one of the greatest 
and best monarchs that ever swayed the sceptre of 
France. Equally qualified for the cabinet and 
the field, although aided by the counsels of the 
great Sully, he was his own minister and his own 
general. In him were united great frankness with 
profound policy, sublimity of sentiments with a 
most engaging simplicity of manners, and all the 
bravery of a soldier with the tender est feelings of 
humanity. \ His declaration often repeated^^4tjat 
he had rather be without the possession of Paris 
than expose the city to the horrors of an assault, 
reflects glory on his memory; and his name is 
revered by every true Frenchman. 

8. During the auspicious reign of Henry IV. 
France saw her desolated fields brought into cul- 
tivation; and the manufactures established in the 
time of Francis I. which the civil wars had nearly 
annihilated, began to revive. The silk manufac- 
ture attracted the particular attention of Henry ,,g 
and he took every possible measure for its encou- 
ragement. In the reign of Francis I.\it was intro- 
duced from Milan, and all the materials were 
brought from Italy. But silk- worms began after- 
wards to be reared in the southern provinces of 
France, and prospered exceedingly in the Lyonnois 
and Touraine. ^Henry introduced a great number 
of those beneficial insects from Spain, and caused 
books to be published concerning their manage- 
ment. The success of these measures answered 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 17,7 

his most sanguine expectations; and the manufac- 
turers of France w ere soon enabled to supply, not 
only the home consumption, which now began to 
be very great, but also a considerable exportation, 
which brought large sums of money into the king^ 
dom. And in the latter part of this reign, about 
A. D. 1603, the French began to trade to India. 

9. lliis age, however, was only the dawning of 
a brighter day, which was about to burst upon 
France, as well as upon England, and many other 
countries of Europe. Henry delighted in erecting 
new buildings, and making newparks and gardens, 
and the construction of the Pont Neuf in this reign 
contributed to the ornament as well as the eonve- 
niency of the capital. Paris, however, was very 
different then from what it is now:/ the, town was 
not lighted; there were very few coaches; the 
streets were excessively dirty, and so infested with 
robbers, that by a regulation of the police, A. D. 
1609, the theatres were obliged to be opened, du- 
ring the winter, at half- past twelve, and the plays 
to be finished before half- past four, in order to 
preserve the inhabitants from the dangers to which 
they were exposed by returning hom^ in the dark.^' 

10. Henry IV. was succeeded by^iis sori Lewis 
XIII. who being only in the ninth year of his age, 
his mother, Mary de Medicis, was, by an a«r«t 
of the parliament, constituted guardian of the king, 
and regent of the kingdom.^) This princess chang- 
ed the system of politics, and courted the alliance 
of Spain, which gave no small umbrage to the 
Protestant party. In the year 1612, a double 
marriage took place, between the king and Anne 



178 LEirERS ON FllENCH HISTOUY. 

of Austria, infanta of Spain, and between Eliza- 
beth his sister, and the prince of Spam, afterwards 
Philip IV. The king, though only fourteen years 
of age, was declared capable of assuming the reins 
of government; but the queen mother, by her in- 
fluence over her son, had the chief direction of 
public affairs. The prince of Conde, dissatisfied 
with her measures, had placed himself at the head 
of the malcontents; but a treaty was soon con- 
cluded, and an apparent reconciliation took place. 
The prince continuing his intrigues, was arrested 
by Mary de Medicis, at the instigation of her Ita- 
lian favourite, the marshal d'Ancre; and hk^^m- 
prisonment was the signal for a civil war. The 
princes, and some of the chief nobility, retired from 
court, and erected the standard of rebellion. But 
the contest was not of long continuance. The 
king, by the advice of his favourite De Luines, 
ordered the arrest of the marshal, who, on making 
resistance, was killed at the entrance of the Louvre. 
His wife, the marchioness, being accused of sor- 
cery, was tried and condemned to death by the 
Parliament. This lady being asked by what ma#f 
gical spell she had ftiscinated the queen mother, 
over whom she had acquired an absolute ascend^ 
ancy, m)b\y replied, "By that superiority w^hich a 
strong mind has always over a weak one." Mary 
de Medicis was exiled to Blois; the discontented 
princes and nobles laid down their arms, and the 
public tranquillity was restored. 

1 1. But disputes of a more serious nature were 
about to commence. In the year 1621, the Pro- 
testants taking umbrage at some proceedings of 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 179 

the court, and instigated by their leaders, the 
dukes de Rohan and Soubise, erected the standard 
of revolt. In a consultation, held at Rochelle, they 
came to the resolution of renouncing their allegi- 
ance, abolishing monarchy, and modelling France 
into a republic. But this vast project proved chi- 
merical. The war, after continuing somewhat 
more than a year, was terminated by a treaty, in 
which the Huguenots obtained nothing more than 
a confirmation of the edict of Nantes. 

12. About A. D. 1624, the celebrated cardi- 
nal Richelieu, gained a complete ascendancy over 
the king, began to make a conspicuous figure on 
the political theatre, and his transcendant genius, 
and resolute measures, soon gave to the govern- 
ment of France a new vigour. fFhe grand objects 
of his policy, were to reduce the Huguenots, to 
weaken the house of Austria, and to subdue the 
refractory spirit of the French nobility; and in all 
these he completely succeeded, | 

13. In pursuance of these ^reat designs, the 
cardinal began with the Huguenots, whom he re- 
solved to deprive of the town of Rochelle, the 
bulwark of their power. On the 10th of August, 
A. D. 1627, the siege of that important place was 
commenced by the king in person, attended by 
the chief nobility of France. Lewis XIII. remain- 
ed before the town until the 17th of February, and 
then returned to Paris, leaving to tbe cardinal the 
direction of the sieo^e. 

14#"Richel^ieUy although an ecclesiastic, being 
now at the head of the army, shewed that his mili- 
tary skill was not inferior to his political sagacity. 



18d LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

The town was inclosed with lines of circumvalla- 
tion, and closely blockaded on the land side. The 
English fleet, commanded by the duke of Buck- 
ingham, made several attempts for its relief; but 
its efforts were feeble and ineffectual. The citi- 
zens, however, being animated by rehgious enthu- 
siasm; and abundantly provided with military 
stores, made a vigorous defence. And the car- 
dinal, perceiving the reduction of Rochelle to be 
impossible while its communication with the sea 
remained open, attempted by several methods to 
shut up the harbour. At length he projected and 
completed a mole of a mile in length, across a 
gulph, into which the sea rushed with an impetu- 
osity that seemed to bid defiance to any works 
that human ingenuity and labour could constfuct. 
The town was now completely blockaded by land 
and by sea; and the inhabitants, after suffering the 
horrible effects of a most dreadful famine, during 
a siege of fourteen months and eighteen days, 
were at last obliged to surrender, on condition of 
retaining the possession of their property, and the 
free exercise of their religion, but their fortifica- 
tions were demolished. Thus was subdued a ci- 
ty which, fo^ the space of almost two hundred 
years, had held at defiance the power of the sove- 
reign; for the Rochellers, while Catholics, had 
erected the stimdard of revolt against Lewis XI. 
Charles VII, Lewis XII, and Francis I. and, af- 
ter they became Protestants, had many times wa- 
ged open war against Charles IX, Henry III, Henry 
IV, and Lewis XIII. 

15. In severiil of the provinces the Huguenots 



LETTERS ON FRENCH mst@llY. 181 

were still formidable, but their forces being repeat- 
edly beaten, they found themselves unable to con- 
tinue the struggle^ and obtained a peace on tern\s 
as favorable as their circumstances could allow 
them to expect. ) They were left in possession of 
their estates and' their chattels; and of the free eji- 
ercise of their religion, but were obliged to deliver 
up their fortified places and cautionary towns. 
Until the reduction of ftochelle, the Protestants 
of France had formed a sort *'imperium in impe- 
rio," but after that event they no longer constitu- 
ted a distinct body in the state. 

16. The next grand object of cardinal Riche 
lieu was to curtail the Austrian power. In thi§ 
view he supported the Protestants of Germany af- 
ter having reduced those of France, and in the be- 
ginning of the year 1631, a treaty of alliance was 
concluded between France and Sweden for the 
purpose of humbling the emperor. Pursuant to 
the conditions of this treaty! the celebrated Gusta- 
vus Adolphus, king of Sweden, took the field at 
the head of thirty thousand men, and Lewis Xlll. 
supplied him with money to enable him to carry 
the war into the heart of Germany. On the 16th 
of November, in the following year 1632, the 
Swedish monarch was killed at the battle of Lut- 
zen, in the thirty-eighth or thirty-ninth year of his 
age; but the treaty was renewed with his daughter 
and successor, the celebrated Christina. \ 

17 While the war in German}^ was carried on 

with great success by the Swedish generals Tor- 

stenson, Banniei", the duke of Saxe- Weimar, fkc. 

wiiose names will long live m the annals of Europe, 

R 



182 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

Lewis XIII. declared war against Spain. This 
measure was in perfect conformity to the views of 
Richeheu, whose object was to humble both 
branches of the house of Austria. The war last- 
ed thirteen years against the emperor, and twenty- 
five years aganist Spain, and neither the king of 
France, nor his minister die cardinal, lived to see 
its termination. Hostilities were carried on with 
extraordinary activity and vigour by the French and 
the Spaniards. In the second campaign A. D, 
1636, the near approach of the Spanish army from 
the Netherlands caused great consternaticm in Pa- 
ris!^ and a body of twenty thousand troops/was rai- 
sed chiefly amongst the domestics and apprentices 
of that metropolis. The duke of Orleans obliged 
the enemy to repass the Somme. And in 1639 
the French had no less than six armies on foot in 
the Netherlands, on the frontiers of Champagne, 
in Languedoc, and in Italy. These formidable 
forces gave great activity to the operations of the 
war; but a detail of battles and sieges, now almost 
forgotten, would be tedious and uninteresting. 

18. To relate the unceasing intrigues of the 
court during this reign, and the various conspira- 
cies and revolts of the nobles against the minister, 
would lead to prolixity: it sufiices to say, that 
Richelieu by his vigorous and sanguinary mea- 
sures triumphed over all opposition. Amongst 
those who fell by the hand of the executioner, as 
victims to the safety or vengepnce of the cardinal, 
the most distinguished were; the marshal de Ma- 
rillac, Henry de Montmorency, duke and peer 
and piarshal of France, and the marquis of Cinq- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 133 

mars,] The duke de Bouillon, narrowly escaped 
the same fate, not to mention others of less note; 
and many were punished by imprisonment in the 
Bastile, by exile, or by fines and forfeitures. The 
authority which Lewis XI. had first acquired over 
the aristocracy, and his immediate successors pre- 
served, had been in a great measure lost during the 
civil wars which had split the kingdom into fac- 
tions; but the Huguenots being subdued, the re- 
fractory grandees were by the vigorous measures 
of Richelieu brought under submission to the so- 
vereign authority. 

19. Cardinal Richelieu died at Paris' A. D. 
1642, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. ^He was 
one of the most distins^uished statesmen that anv 
age or country ever produced. Although the 
whole time of his administration was spent amidst 
foreign wars and domestic factions, commerce, li- 
terature, and arts obtained a great share of his at- 
tention. /Fo his patronage the * 'Academic Fran- 
coise" owes its institution, and the French lan- 
guage that refinement which has contributed in no 
small degree to render it a general vehicle of com- 
munication throughout Europe. It is somewhat 
extraordinary that Lewis XIII. who always dis- 
liked him, and was jealous of his power, submit- 
ted implicitly to his direction, and that this minis- 
ter was almost equally feared by the king whom 
he served, and the nobility whom he depressed. 
But the greatness of his designs, and his decisive 
mode of carrying them into execution, have gain- 
ed him the admiration of posterity. The "^^zar, 
Peter t])e Great; when he visited Paris, A. D. 



i84 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTOUY. 

1717, seeing the superb mausoleum of this ipin- 
ister in the Sorbonne, and being told it was that 
of Cardinal Richelieu, the view of so grand an ob- 
ject threw him into an enthusiastic rapture, ^e 
Van to the statue, and embracing it, exclaimed, 
''Oh! that thou wert yet living: I would give thee 
one half of my empire for governing the other." 
Such a monarch as Peter would undoubtedly Ji^v-e 
held in high estimation such a minister as Riche- 
lieu . 

20. The death of the cardinal was followed with- 
in less than six months by that of Lewis XIL 
which happened the 14th of May, A. D. 1643, 
in the forty ^second year of his age, and the very 
cby on which he completed the thirtieth year of 
his reign. iThis monarch was imsociable in his 
^lisposition, and reserved in his deportment. He 
posseiised great personal courage, of which he 
exhibited unquestionable proofs on several occa-^ 
sions, and particularly at the siege of Rochelle.^ 
Although he had neither a lively imagination nor 
;my taste Ibr literature, his understanding and judg- 
ment were sound; but his natural abilities were 
eclipsed by the superior politieal talents of his mi- 
nister, 

21. This monarch was succeeded by his son the 
( celebrated Lewis XIV. who being a minor, not 

five years of age, was placed under the guardian- 
ship of his mother Anne of Austria, who was also 
constituted regent. ) The minority of this prince 
was disturbed by tne factious spirit of the nobles: 
the contest with Spain and the emperor still con- 
tinued: and France was readv to sink under the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 1«5 

double burden of a foreign war and a feeble admin- 
istration. In the field, however, . the French ge- 
nerals bravely supported the glory of their coun- 
try; and on the 19th of May, only five days after 
the death of Lewis XIIL the duke d'Enguien, af- 
terwards prince of Conde, gained the battle of Ro- 
croy , in which the Spaniards sustained a greater 
loss than in any other action since the commence- 
ment of the war. 
I 22. The queen-regent having chosen cardinal 
(Mazarin for her chief minister, .that consummate 
statesman, who was Richelieu's pupil, and follow- 
ed his steps, succeeded in suppressing the factions 
of the court, and restoring the domestic tranquillity 
of the kingdom. He also directed the war against 
Spain and the emperor with extraordinary ability; 
and his plans were as ably executed by the French 
generals, particularly the duke d'Enguien and the 
celebrated marshal Turenne. At length, A, D, 
A648y a peace was concluded at Munster with the 
emperor, and the empire, by which Alsace, with 
Metz, Toul, and Verdun, as well as Pignerol and 
Brisac, were ceded to France. 

^'2>, The war against Spain was still carried on 
with great vigour. But factions prevailed in tlie 
court of France, and discord distracted the king- 
dom. While cardinal Mazarin was increasing 
the power of the state; and laying the foundation 
of the future greatness of the monarch, his admi- 
nistration was far from being satisfactory to the 
grandees, who looked with a jealous eye on his 
authority. vThe prince de Conde, formerly duke 
d'Enguien, greeted the standard of revolt; but be^ 
-^*R 2 



18fS LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ing Opposed by Turenne, he was at length con- 
strained to throw himself into the arms of the Spa- 
niards, and his military abilities long supported 
their declining cause. But while he distinguished 
himself at the head of the armies of Spain, Tu- 
renne, who commanded the forces of France, em- 
ployed all his genius and skill in counteracting his 
plans, and in the plains of Flanders, these two 
celebrated opponents acquired immortal renown. 
24 Lewis XIV. having attained to majority, 
his counsels were still directed by the cardinal, by 
whom he had been so well served. That sagacious 
minister raised up against Spain a new and formi- 
dable enemy, in forming^ a strict alliance with 
Cromwell, the English usurper. ji Dunkirk was 
taken by the French and English forces; and, ac- 
cording to treaty, delivered up to Cromwell. The 
Spanish fleets were every where defeated; and 
their galleons, laden with the riches of Mexico and 
Peru, were captured by the English. The court 
of Madrid being also engaged in a war with Por- 
tugal, found that Spain was utterly unable to con- 
tend with the united force of France and England. 
Negotiations were begun: the two ministers of 
France and Spain, cardinal Mazarin/and don Lew- 
is de Haro, had an interview on the frontiers; and 
a war of twenty-five years duration, was terminat- 
ed by the famous treaty of the Pyrenees, the con- 
dition of which confirmed to France the provinces 
of Alsace and Roussillon, and gave the hand of the 
infanta, with a large portion, to Lewis XIV. who 
at the same time solemnly renounced every succes- 
sion that might devolve on him in right of this. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, UT 

marriage. The prince of Conde was pardoned by 
Lewis, and reinstated in his honours and posses- 
sions. , 

25. ^The skilful and resolute conduct of Mazarin 
had rendered Lewis more absolute than any of his 
predecessors. ■ The monarch himself possessed 
every quality that could flatter the pride, or conci- 
liate the affections of his people; and the French 
nation submitted without murmuring, to the most 
violent stretches of arbitrary power- This enthu- 
siastic loyalty, combined with the ambition of the 
prince, the industry and ingenuity of the people, 
and the internal tranquillity of the kingdom, ren- 
dered France, which had long be^n distracted and 
weakened by domestic factions; powerful and truly 
formidable to her neighbours. Colbert, a most 
active and able minister, put the finances into ex- 
cellent order: endrmous sums were raised for the 
service of the state; a navy was created, and a 
numerous army was supported, without oppressing 
the subject. 

26. Conscious of his power and resources,' Lew- 
is XI V.J was not long before he began to display 
that restless ambition, and insatiable thirst for 
glory, which so long disturbed the tranquillity of 
Europe. Reviving obsolete claims in direct con- 
travention to former treaties, and particularly to 
that of the Pyrenees, he invaded the Spanish Ne- 
therlands;, and in one campaign; A. D. 1667, re- 
duced Charleroy, Aeth, Tournay, Furnes, Ar- 
mentiers, Douay, and Lisle; and the celebrated 
Vauban was employed to fortify these towns, which 
were ceded to France by a treaty concluded the 
following year at Aix-la-Chapelle. 



i88 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

27. Soearly as the year 1662, Charles II. king 
of England, had sold Dunkirk to the French mo- 
narch for five millions of livres, and squandered 
away the money. Lewis afterwards concluded a 
secret treaty with that prince, and supplied his 
profusion by granting him an annual pension, thus 
attaching to his interests the rival who was the 
most able to obstruct his ambitious designs. y'T^he 
kings of France and England entered into an alli- 
ance, the object of which was the conquest of the 
Uivited Provinces, \On the 20th September, 1670, 
Lewis gave orders to the marshal de Crequi to 
enter Lorrain, which in a few days was subdued; 
and the duke being deprived of all his territories, 
took refuge in Germany. 

28. The war commenced with great vigour by 
land and by sea. f' On the 28th May, 1672, the 
Dutch admiral De Ruyter, with ninety- one ships 
of the line, and forty-four frigates and fire-ships, 
engaged the combined fleets of France and Eng- 
land, consisting of a hundred and thirty sail, under 
the command of the duke of York, afterwards 
James II. and the admiral count d'Estrees. The 
conflict was terrible. The allies, however, had a 
trifling advantage, though the French had little 
share in the action; and De Ruyter retired to the 
coast of Holland. 

29. The king of France, in the mean while, 
entered the Dutch territories with a hundred and 
twenty thousand choice troops, commanded by the 
ablest generals in the world His progress was 
exceedingly rapid: Gueldies and Overyssel sub- 
mitted tQ his arms: on the 25th of June, he enter^ 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 189 

ed Utrecht in triumph, and his troops advanced 
within nine miles of Amsterdam. 

30. At this tremendous crisis, the Inhabitants of 
Anisterdam showed the most determined spirit of 
resistance. /IShips were stationed to ^uard the city 
by sea: the sluices were opened, the country was 
laid under water; and the fertile fields, with the 
numerous villas, and flourishing villages, were 
overwhelmed by the inundation. « Resolving to 

>preserve their mdependcnce, they even formed the 
(design of migrating to their settlements in the East 
Jndies, and erecting a new empire in the southern 
extremity of Asia. \ On examining the means 
w'hich they possessed for executing this extraordi- 
nary project, they found they had in their harbours 
shipping suflicient for the transport of fift}^ thou- 
sand families. A favourable turn in their affairs, 
however, prevented the necessity of having re- 
course to that desperate expedient. 

3 1 . The Dutch having elevated to the dignity 
of stadtholder^he young prince of Orange, after- 
wards Williani' III. king of England, and given 
him the command of their forces, affairs began to 
assume a new aspect. The other states of I'Lurope 
began to discover their jealousy of the exorbitant 
power of France, and both Spain and the emperor 
espoused the cause of Holland. 

32. In the following year, 1673, three indeci- 
sive actions took place on the 28th of May, the 
7th of June; and the 11th of August, between the 
Dutch admiral de Ruyter, and the combined fleets 
of France and England . TJk; last of these engage- 
ments exceedingly obstinate, although j:ieither 




190 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY, 

side sustained any very considerable loss. By 
land, the Dutch were more fortunate; for the 
prince of Orange, and the imperial general Mon- 
tecuculli, obliged the French monarch to aban. 
don all his conquests, and recal his forces from 
Holland. 

33. A train of events which Lewis could not 
reverse, now began to obstruct his ambitious de- 
signs. The English parliament obliged Charles 
II. to conclude a treaty of peace with the Dutch, 
while the Spaniards and Imperialists augmented 
their forces. The French monarch, however, as- 
tonished all Europe b} his exertions. In the cam- 
paign of 1674, he brought three large armies in- 
to the field; one in Flanders, one on the side of 
Germany, and a third on the frontiers of Spain; 
while he himself, with a fourth, reduced Franche 
Compte. In Flanders, a bloody but indecisive 
action was fought at SenefF; between the prince of 
Conde and the prince of Orange. The loss on 
both sides was nearly equal; and about twelve 
thousand men were left dead on the field, when 
night parted the combatants. In Germany mar- 
shal l^urenne having routed the Imperialists at 
Mulhausen, desolated the Palatinate with fire and 
sword. /The elector, /beholding from his palace 
at Manheim two cities and twentv-five towns or 
villages in names, challenged Turenne to a single 
combat. But the French general replied, that he 
could not accept such a challenge, without the 
permission of his sovereign. In history we often 
hear of such challenges; but unfortunately, some 
excuse is always found for th^ir non-acceptancQ* 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 191 

How desirable it would be that all wars should be 
decided in such a manner: what blood might be 
spared, and what miseries prevented ! 

24. The campaign of 1675 was fatal to the ce- 
lebrated marshal Turenne, who was esteehied the 
ablest commander of the age. He was opposed on 
the side of Germany by his famous rival Monte- 
cuculli, and the most consummate skill was dis- 
played in all their operations. At the moment 
when these two great generals were preparing for 
a full display of their abilities, in bringing the cam- 
paign to a decision, (Turenne was killed by a can- \ 
non ball, when reconnoitring the enemy's position. J 

35. The death of this great commander filkd 
the French armies with consternation. His loss, 
however, was well supplied by the prince of 
Conde, and the marshal duke de Luxemburg.* 
In the ensuing campaign, 1676, the French made^ 
themselves masters of Conde, Bouchaine, and 
Aire. They were still more successful by sea. 
The duke de Vivonne defeated the combined fleets 
of Holland and Spain in three difterent engage- 
ments, near the coast of Sicily: the second of these 
was rendered memorable by the death of the fa- 
mous Dutch admiral de Ruyter: the last and most 
decisive was fought near Palermo: twelve of the 
largest of the enemy's ships were taken or des- 
troyed, five thousand of their men were killed, and 
the French remained undisputed masters of the 
Mediterranean. 

36. At the opening of the next campaign, 1667 
the French monarch, attended by his brother, the 
duke of Orleans, and five marshals of France, 



1^ L^f TBlt^ 6N FlfeENCH HISTORY. 

placed himself at the head of his army in Flanders, 
where he reduceB; Valenciennes, Cambray, atid St. 
Omer. The prince! of Orange attempted the re- 
lief of St. Omer; but was defeated in a bloody 
battle at Mont Cassel, by the duke of Luxem- 
burg. William, although possesed of great ta- 
lents for war, was inferior in several respects to 
that consummate general. Before the end of the 
campaign, the French added Ypres and Ghent to 
their other conquests. 

37. In the following year 1678, was concluded 
the treaty of Nimeguen, on terms prescribed by 
the French monarch. Besides other articles re- 
garding the rest of the allies, Gharleroi, Oudi- 
narde, Aeth, Ghent, and Limburg, were restor- 
ed to Spain. But Lewis retained possession of 
Franche Gompte, and also of St. Omer; Cassel, 
Aire, Bbuchaine, Douay, Valenciennes, Lisle and 
the other towns which has ever since constituted 
what is eMphatically denominated the iron fron- 
tier. The duke of Lorrain chose rather to become 
a soldier of fortune, and command the imperial ar- 
mies, than to have his territories restored on such 
eonditions as Lewis proposed. 

38. This war, and the treaty by which it was 
terminated, gave tbfLewisja decided ascendancy 
over every other European potentate. His gene- 
rals had shown themselves superior to those of 
every other nation; arid his arms had humbled his 
most powerful neighbours. 

39. The peace of Nimeguen only served to fan 
the ambition of thq'^t'rench monarclv He still kept 
•up a formidable army; and acting as if he had been 



LETTliRS ON FllENCH HISTORY. 193 

the sole sovereign of Europe, he revived old ti- 
tles and claims that were buried in remote anti- 
quity, and made daily encroachments on the 
neighboring states. He divested the elector of 
Cologne, and the elector Palatine, of part of their 
territories. In a time of profound peace, and with- 
out any pretext for a quarrel, he seized the free 
city of Strasburg; and the celebrated Vauban hav- 
ing afterwards exerted all his skill in constructing 
new fortifications, rendered that place one of the 
strongest barriers of France. 

40. Lewis XIV. also raised his marine to a de- 
gree of force that rendered it formidable to Europe. 

(His fleet consisted of more than a hundred ships 
\pf the line, and was manned by above sixty thou- 
^nd seamen.' The magnificent port of Toulon 
was~cbnstructed at an enormous expense, and that 
of Brest was formed on a plan not. less extensive. 
Although at peace with his neighbours, his naval 
forces were not permitted to remain inactive. The 
French squadrons were repeatedly sent out to clear 
the seas of the African pirates. They twice bom- 
barded Algiers; and Lewis not only had the glory 
of humbling that predatory city, and compelling 
the Algerines to release all their Christian slaves, 
but also of subjecting Tunis and Tripoli to the 
same conditions. 

41. The effects of his resentment were also felt 
by the Genoese, whd) were accused of selling gun- 
powdei* and bombs to the Algerines, and had fur- 
ther incurredThis displeasure by building some 
gallies for the Spaniards. A fleet was in conse- 
quence sent from Toulon to bombard the city of 

S 



194 LETTERS ON I'RENCH HISTORY. 

Genoa; and the doge was obliged to repair to Pa- 
ris in his robes of state, accompanied by four of 
the principal senators, to supplicate the clemency 
of the French monarch. 

42. The grandeur of Lewis XIV. and the 
power of France, were now at their height, when 
the nation sustained an irreparable loss in the 
death of the great Colbert. To that abje minis- 
ter, France owed the flourishing state of^hef com- 
merce and manufactures, which were carried to 
so high a degree of perfection, and met with so 
extensive a sale in foreign countries, as to render 
all her neighbours in some measure her tributa- 
ries. j The riches which trade brought into her 
bosom, enabled her monarch to support his ex- 
pensive wars, to dazzle with his splendour all the 
nations of Europe, and to corrupt foreign courts, 
without distressing hip. subjects. Many of the 
most lucrative manufactures were carried on by 
the Protestants; who, having lost their political 
consequence, had turned their attention chiefly to 
trade, and found their industry and ingenuity re- 
warded by opulence. The edict of Nantes grant- 
ed them the free exercise of their religion; and 
Colbert, who justly appreciated so useful a class 
of subjects, afforded them his protection and pat. 
ronage. But after the death of that enlightened 
minister, Lewis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes 
and the Protestants were exposed to an unjust and 
cruel persecution, which reduced great numbers 
of them to the necessit}' of abandoning their coun- 
try. 

48. From the conclusion of the peace of Nime- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 1^5 

guen, A, D. 1678, until the revocation of the 
edict of Nantes, in 1685, France was in the acme 
of her prosperity, i But the revocation of that edict, 
a measure equally unjust and impolitic, gave a 
death blow to her manufactures, which were the 
chief support of her extensive and multifarious 
commerce. In consequence of this infringement 
of their religious liberties, above half a million of 
Protestants, preferring expatriation to mental sla- 
very, carried their industry and ingenuity into 
other countries, particularly to England, Holland, 
and Germany, to the great detriment of the ma- 
nufacturing system of France, which continued in 
a state of decline during the remainder of this reign. 

44. Although Lewis thus persecuted his Pro- 
testant subjects, he /showed his contempt of the 
papal authority in his various disputes wdth the 
apostolic see, and his reiterated insults on the dig- 
nity of Innocent XI. who then filled the chair of 
St. Peter, i On the most trifling occasions, and 
under the most unjust pretexts, he sent his am- 
bassadors to Rome surrounded with guards; and 
by this display of military force, menacing the 
pontiff with further violence, obliged his holiness 
to comply with his arbitrary demands. And in- 
deed he carried his contests with the Roman see 
as far as he possibly could, without separating the 
Gallican church entirely from its communion. 

45. These repeated insults on the dignity of 
foreign states; joined to various encroachments on 
their territories roused the general resentment of 
Europe. A league for restraining the ambition 
of Lewis was formed at Ausburg, A. D. 1687, 



196 LETTERS ©N FRENCH HISTORY 

by the 'emperor Leopold, the king of Spain, and 
the states-generah the kings of Denmark and 
Sweden, together with the duke of Savoy, soon af- 
ter joined the confederacy; and the flames of war 
broke out afresh in Flanders and in Germany, on 
the frontiers of Spain, and in Italy. > 

46. Lewis XIV. confiding in his vast resour- 
ces, prepared to repel the storm which his ambition 
had raised. The French armies entering the Pa- 
latinate, devastated the whole countrv with fire and 
sword. The palace of the electors, at Manheim, 
was levelled with the ground; the tombs of those 
princes were burst open by the soldiery, and their 
"v^enerable dust was scattered in the air. The hor- 
rors of destruction were extended to every part of 
the electorate. Men, ^vomen, and children, were 
driven in the severe season of winter to perish in 
the fields, white they beheld their houses reduced 
to ashes, their goods seized^ and their possessions 
laid waste. If there be a God that will judge the 
world, (and Vvho but fools will question the obvi- 
ous and awful truth?) will he not call to a rigorous 
account those who wage war without necessity, as 
well as those who cruelly aggravate its horrors? 

47. This barbarous expedient, by which the 
French monarch designed to strike terror into his 
enemies, did not answer the end he proposed. 
The Germanic body, united under the emperor, 
sent into the field three formidable armies, com- 
manded by the duke of Lorrain, and the electors 
of Bavaria and Brandenburg; and during the cam- 
paign of 1689, the imperial arms were in general 
victorious. England also acceded to the confede- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 19t 

racy of Augsburg, Lewis XIV. having espoused 
the cause of the abdicated monarch James II. ex- 
cited the resentment of Wilham III. and in some 
measure obliged him to join the alHes. 

48. In the following campaign, 1690, the arms 
of France were more successful. In Italy, mar- 
shal Catinat, who, being brought up to the law, 
had quitted that profession, and risen to the high- 
est military rank by his merit,/ united m his cha- 
racter the fire of the hero with the coolness of the 
philosopher, and showed himself every where su- 
perior to his antagonist, Victor Amadeus, duke 
of Savoy, who was esteemed an able commander. 
In Flanders, the marshal duke of Luxemburg, by 
his intuitive genius, his enterprising courag-e, and 
his consummate skill, chained victory to the stand- 
ards of France. Being joined by marshal Bouf- 
flers, he gained a complete but bloody victory 
over the Dutch and Spaniards under the prince of 
Waldec, who left above seven thousand dead on 
the field. The death of the duke of Lorrain, the 
imperial general, paralized the operations of the 
allies on the side of Germany. 

49. In the mean while the French admiral 
Tourvill^lgained off Beachy Head a victory over 
the combined fleets of England and Holland, com- 
manded by the earl of Torrington and admiral 
Evertzen. The allies lost eight ships of the line, 
and many others were rendered totally unfit for 
service. This action showed the exertions which 
Lewis XIV. had made in raising his navy: the al- 
lies were inferior to Tourville, both in the number 
and size of the vessels: the French ships were al- 

s 2 



l^a LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY^ 

SO extremely well manned; their fire was regular 
and rapid, and their manoeuvres were skilful as 
well as expeditiously performed. 

50. In the following year, 1691, the king of 
England put himself at the head of the confede- 
rate army. But Lewis, in person, having taken 
Mons, the summer passed without any other im- 
portant event in Flanders. In Italy, the progress 
of marshal Gatinat was checked by that consum- 
mate general prince Eugene of Savoy; and the war 
was carried on with languor in Germany. 

51. The kings of France and England joined 
their armies early in the spring of 1692; and the 
highest expectations were formed on both sides. 
Lewis invested Namur, while the duke of Luxem- 
burg covered the siege. The town, which is situ- 
ated at the confluence of the Sambre and the Maese, 
was exceedingly strong, the citadel was deemed 
impregnable; and the garrison consisted of ten 
thousand select troops. J The attacks were directed 
by the famous engineer Vauban, while his scarcely 
less celebrated rival Goehorn defended one of the 
principal forts, i The king of England, with an 
army of eighty thousand men advanced to his re- 
lief; but all his efforts were baffled by the genius 
of Luxemburg, and that important place was obli- 
ged to surrender to the arms of France. 

52. William, however, soon after attacked mar- 
shal Luxemburg, at Steenkirk; but the British 
columns, not being supported by the Dutch, were 
almost entirely cut to pieces. The battle lasted 
only two hours: the loss was nearly equal, amount- 
ing to about ten thousand men on each side; biit 
the French gained the victory* 



LETTEUS ON FRENCH HISIOHY. I9y 

53. The naval power of France received a fatal 
blow this year at the memorable battle of La 
Hogue. Lewis having projected an invasion of 
England, in order to overturn the throne of Wil- 
liam, by supporting the adherents of James, an ar- 
my of twenty thousand men was assembled on the 
coast of Bretagne: transports were collected at 
Brest; and every thing was ready for the embark- 
ation of the troops. The Toulon fleet command- 
ed by the count d'Etrees, w^as to join that off Brest 
under admiral Tourville, in order to conduct the 
army to England, and favour its descent; but the 
execution of this plan was prevented by contrary 
winds. 

54. The British admiral Russel having eftected 
a junction with a Dutch squadron, attacked Tour- 
ville off Cape la Hogue. The French fleet con- 
sisted of sixty-three, and the English of ninety- nine 
sail of the line, besides frigates and fire-ships. 
The conflict was obstinate and sanguinary. On 
both sides great courage and skill were displayed; 
but at length superiority of force gave the victory 
to the English and Dutch; fifteen French ships of 
the line were burned or otherwise destroyed; and 
the maritime power of Lewis XIV. was entirely 
broken. 

55. Success, however, crowned the efforts of 
the French monarch by land The following cam- 
paign of 1693 was distinguished by the sanguinary 
battle of Neerwinden. The French attacked the 
allies, mider the king of England, in their forti- 
fied camp, in a position exceedingly strong, with a 
hundred pieces of cannon iu front of their line. 



2m LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

William displayed extraordinary courage; but his 
talents and skill sunk before the military genius of 
Luxemburg. The allies were totally defeated, 
and compelled to retire in great confusion, leaving 
behind them twelve thousand dead on the field, 
and two thousand prisoners: sixty pieces of artil- 
lery, eight mortars, with eighty standards, fell 
into the hands of the French. But the duke of 
Luxemburg, although completely victorious, gain- 
ed little besides glory; he had eight thousand men 
killed; and his army was so much weakened by 
the number of wounded, that the reduction of 
Charleroi w^as his only considerable achievement 
during the remainder of the campaign. 

56. In Germany, the French tarnished, by their 
cruelty, the glory of their arms. Having taken 
Heidelberg by storm, they put the garrison and 
the inhabitants indiscriminately to-the sword; and 
humanity would shudder at a recital of tile deeds of 
blood and rapine that took place. Such are the 
calamities which war too often inflicts on the peace- 
able and industrious part of mankind. In Pied- 
mont marshal Catinat defeated the famous prince 
Eugene, and bravely supported the reputation of 
the French arms* 

57. Early in the spring of 1694 the king of 
England appeared in Flanders at the head of a nu- 
merous and well appointed army; but the superior 
genius of Luxemburg, with a force much inferior, 
baffled all his eiforts, and prevented him from gain- 
ing any important advantage. On the side of Spain 
the war was carried on with great vigour by mar- 
shal Noailles, who defeated the SpanisU army in 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HlSTOllY. 201 

Catalonia, and made himself master of Ostalric and 
Gironne. 

58. Before the opening of the next campaign 
Lewis XIV. sustained an irreparable loss in the 
death of the marshal duke of Luxemburg, one of 
the most enterprising and skilful of those great 
eenerals who had rendered France the terror of 
Europe. j This event inspired the allies with fresh 
hopes, and excited them to make more vigorous 
efforts. Lewis, therefore, having placed marshal 
Villeroy at the head of his principal army in Flan- 
ders, and entrusted the second to marshal Boufflei's 
resolved to act only on the defensive. The king 
of Kngland, finding himself at the head of a pow- 
erful army, reduced Namur in the sight of Ville- 
roy, although marshal Boufflers, who had thrown 
himself into the place, made a most vigorous de- 
fence. The French monarch retaliated on the con- 
federates by ordering Villeroy to bombard Brus- 
sels; and a great part of that fine city was laid in 
ruins. 

59. The campaign of 1696 was not productive 
of any important event. All the belligerent pow- 
ers, except the king of Spain and the emperor, 
were weary of the war. But the reduction of Bar- 
celona by the marshal the duke de Vendome, in- 
duced his Catholic majesty to listen to the propo- 
sals of the French monarch: and the emperor Leo- 
pold, being abandoned by all his allies, at length 
found himself under the necessity of acceding to 
the treaty of peace, which was concluded the fol- 
ing year, (l697^at Ryswick. The principal arti- 
cles of this treaty were, that the duchy of Luxem- 



202 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

burg, with Charleroi, Mons, Aeth, and Courtray, 
as well as all the French conquests in Catalonia, 
should be restored to Spain; that Friburg, Bris- 
gaw, and Philipsburg should be ceded to the em- 
peror; that the dii^hies of Lorrain and Bar should 
be restored to tfieir native princes; and that the 
French monarch should acknowledge William III. 
as king of Great Britain and Ireland. 

60. In this contest with most of the powers of 
Europe, France had not sustained much loss in re- 
gard to territory; but her power was considerably 
diminished. Her commerce was destroyed, her 
manufactures languished; and her people were in 
misery and want. Lewis XIV. still maintained 
the pomp and splendour of his court, which con* 
tinued to dazzle the eyes of Europe; but his great- 
ness and glory, which had once risen to so con- 
spicuous a height, were evidently on the decline. 

61. The disastrous war which Lewis undertook 
in order to establish his grandson Philip, duke of 
Anjou, on the throne of Spain, completely exhaust- 
ed the resources of France, and rendered th^ latter 
part of his reign as unhappy as its middle period 
had been fortunate and glorious. On the death of 
the Spanish monarch, Charles 11. A. D. 1700, 
Lewis caused the duke of Anjou to be proclaimed 
sole heir to all the dominions of Spain, to the to- 
tal exclusion of the house of Austria, which had 
equal pretensions to the inheritance, and in direct 
contravention to the partition treaty w^hich he him- 
self had concluded with the king of England and 
the states- general. This proceeding involved him 
in a war with the emperor Leopold, who, after 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 203 

some hesitation, resolved to support the claim of 
his son the archduke Charles; and both England 
and the states-general entered into the famous 
league, known in history by the name of die triple 
alliance, /in order to prevent this exorbitant ag-, 
grandisement of the houise of Bourbon, which now' 
appeared so dangerous to all the other powers of 
Europe, f 

62. A circumstantial detail, or even a bare enu- 
meration, of all the operations of a war so exten- 
sive and of so long duration, would greatly exceed 
the limits of this epistolary correspondence. Nu- 
merous and formidable armies were brought into 
the field, and hostilities were carried on with 
great vigour, but generally to the disadvantage of 
the French. The English and imperial generals 
Marlborough and prince Eugene, acting in con- 
cert gained many important victories. In the bat- 
tle of Blenheim, fought on the 13th of August, 
A. D.(l704p the French and their Bavarian allies 
lost twelve thousand men, killed or drowned in 
the Danube, besides thirteen thousand prisoners 
amongst w^hom was marshal Taliard, their com- 
mander. In the battle of Ramilies, on Whitsun- 
day, A. D.\1706i they were again defeated, with 
the loss of eight thousand killed and wounded, and 
six thousand prisoners, with a hundred pieces of 
cannon. This important victory rendered the duke 
of Marlborough master of the greatest part of the 
Netherlands, and filled Paris with consternation. 

63. In Spain the war had hitherto been carried 
on witli various success. The French and Aus- 
trian kings of that country, Philip und Charles^ 



204 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

alternately possessed and abandoned the capital. 
But the battle of Aimanza turned the scale deci- 
sively in favour oi Philip. In that action, which 
took place on the 14th oi April, [1707,/ the com- 
bined English and Portuguese armies were totally 
defeated by the duke ol Berwick, with the loss of 
five thousand killed and wounded, and ten thou- 
sand prisoners. And in consequence of this vic- 
tory, the provinces of Valencia and Saragossa, as 
well as the capital, were wrested from Charles and 
and brought under the sceptre of Philip 

64. These important successes were counter- 
balanced by the losses which the French sustained 
in the Netherlands. They were beaten at Oudi- 
narde; and Lisle, notwithstanding its memorable 
defence by marshal Boufflers, surrendered to the 
allies under Eugene and Marlborough. On the 
11th of September those two generals attacked the 
French in their entrenchments at Malplaquet, near 
Mons, and gained the victory, although with great 
loss; but marshal Boufflers acquired immoital 
honour by his masterly retreat. Not less than ten 
thousand of the French fell in that obstinate and 
sanguinary conflict; but the alUes are said to have 
lost near double that number. Mons soon after 
surrendered; and Eugene and Marlborough, be- 
ing masters of the Netherlands, had scarcely any 
thing to prevent them from marching to Paris. 

65. The French monarch now seeing himself 
on the brink of ruin, wished to purchase peace on 
almost any conditions. He oflered to resign the 
whole Spanish empire to the house of Austria, 
and to furnish a sum of money towards dethron- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. Zt3 

ing his grandson, besides several other proposals 
extremely favourable to the emperor, to England, 
and to Holland. These offers, however, were re- 
jtcted; and Lewis was obliged to continue the 
Kir. 

66 With the renewal of hostilities, the ill-for- 
tune of the French monarch returned. But when 
his affairs seemed desperate, '^the sudden death of 
the emperor Joseph, by which the imperial crown 
devolved on his brother Charles, the competitor 
of Philip for the sceptre of Spain, and a change of 
ministry in England, saved him from the ruin by 
which he was menaced. / This favourable coinci- 
dence ushered in the peace of Utrecht, which was 
concluded A. D. 1713, between the house of 
Bourbon and all the confederate powers, except 
the emperor. Philip V. was acknowledged king 
of Spain; and, on that condition, renounced for 
himself and his descendants all right of succession 
to the French crown. In the following year the 
emperor acceded to the treaty, by which he ob- 
tained possession of the Spanish Netherlands. 

67. After all his ambitious projects, Lewis 
XIV. ended his life in peace. He died on the 
1st of September, A. D. 1715, when he wanted 
only four days of completing the seventy- seventh 
year of his age; and his reign of seventy-two years, 
three months, and seventeen days, is probably the 
longest that ever any monarch enjoyed. The 
French have honoured his name with the epithet 
of Great; but his actions and character appear to 
have been considerably overrated by the historians 
of his own nation, who have lavished on him the 
T 



206 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

most extravagant eulogiums, and compared his 
achievements to those of the most celebrated he- 
roes of antiquity. 'He was of a good stature, and 
an athletic frame, possessnig great strength and 
agility; his features were regular, his countenance * 
was majestic, and in every respect he was one of 
the handsomest men of his time. The qualities 
of his mind are said to have harmonized with his 
graceful exterior, but he was never placed in such 
situations as could furnish a just criterion for esti- 
mating his abilities either as a politician or a war- 
rior. All the brilliant achievements of his reign 
were performed by his ministers and generals;! but 
it must be confessed that his judicious choice of 
these, affords a strong proof of his sound under- 
standing and political sagacity. His generals were 
conspicuous for their military talents; and his min- 
isters, Mazarin and Colbert, especially the latter, 
by an excellent management raised the commerce 
and marine of France to an extraordinary height. 
The transfer of the Spanish crown from the house 
of Austria to that of Bourbon was a grand scheme 
of policy, which gave rise to a family compact, and 
brought into close alliance the two kingdoms of 
France and Spain, which had so often exlumsted 
each other's resources by bloody and expensive 
wars. That, indeed, was the greatest project that 
Lewis XIV. ever formed; but after bringing a 
train of miseries on France, it would certainly 
have failed, had not a critical coincidence of cir- 
cumstances unexpectedly favoured its t xc cution. 
And it is doubtful whether all the benefits which 
France ever derived from the family compact has 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 20T 

counterbalanced the injury that she sustained by 
the revocation of the edict of Nantes, a measure so 
prejudicial to the manufactures and trade of the 
kingdom, and so disgraceful to the memory of 
this monarch. 

68. The despotism of the French monarchy, 
of which the foundations were laid by cardinal 
Richelieu,'was completely established by Lewis 
XI V/ and the reign of this prince exhibits, in re- 
gard to the extent of the royal authority, and the 
s])lendor of the regal title, a remarkable contrast 
with the times immediately preceding and follow- 
ing the accession of Hugh Capet. In those times 
the aristocracy possessed all the power of the 
kingdom, the king was only a pageant of state; but 
in the reign of Lewis XIV the king was every 
thing: all the orders of subjects were nothing; and 
all the greatness and happiness of the nation was 
centered in the glory of the grand monarque. 

69. But although the character of Lewis XIV. 
displays many blemishes, yet as a patron of sci- 
ences, letters and arts, his name is illustrious and 
will be immortal in history. His reign was the 
Augustan age of France; his court and his capital 
were the general resort of the learned, and the re- 
sidence of genius. The royal palaces, especially 
that of Versailles, the facade of the Louvre, and 
the various embellishments v/hich Paris and its 
environs received during his reign, are monuments 
of his magnificence. His ambition drew upon him 
the merited execration of Europe; but his patron- 
age of talents and learning have thrown a lustre 
around his name, that can never be obscured by 
the enmity of prejudice, or the clouds of oblivion. 



203 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

70. Lewis XIV. was succeeded by his grand- 
son Lewis XV. who was only in the sixth year of 
his age. At first his minority was threatened with 
a repetition of those troubles by which France had 
been so often agitated during the non-age of her 
monarchs; but the talents of the regent the duke 
of Orleans maintained the internal tranquillity of 
the kingdom. Peace with foreign nations also 
continued; being only once interrupted by a short 
and insignificant war, which was undertaken in 
1719 by France and England against Spain, and 
terminated in a single campaign. 

71. Lewis XV. was declared of age A. D. 
1722; and his attainment to majority was soon fol- 
lowed by the death of Philip, duke of Orleans, one 
of the most elegant, accomplished, and dissipated 
men of his time. ' He possessed great talents for 
government, and during his administration adopt- 
ed many judicious measures. But as the ambi- 
tion of Lewis XIV. had reduced France to a state 
of great misery, the regent deemed it necessary to 
make the people forget their calamities in a round 
of perpetual amusements and dissipation. This, 
with his own libertine example, rendered the court 
a scene of licentiousness, and introduced an uni- 
versal corruption of manners; and the origin of 
that spirit of infidelity which pervaded France du- 
ring the reign of Lewis XV. and his unfortunate 
successor, may be traced to the regency of the 
duke of Orleans. 

72. The young king having chosen cardinal 
Fleury, a man far advanced in age and of a pacific 
disposition for his chief minister, France enjoyed 



LETTERS ON EUENGH HISTORY 2) 

the blessings, of peace during the first nineteen 
years of his majority, that happy season of tran- 
quilUty being only once interrupted by a short war 
with the emperor, which lasted little more than one 
campaign. By the treaty of peace which was 
concluded A. D.(1735y amongst other stipula- 
lations, France obtained the cession of the duchy 
of Lorrain. And the duke of Lorrain who was 
married to the archduchess Maria Theresa, after- 
wards queen of Bohemia and Hungary, a mar- 
riage by which he at length obtained the imperial 
crown, acquired the grand duchy of Tuscany in 
lieu, of his hereditary dominions. 

73. During this season of general tranquillity, 
France had in a great measure emerged from the 
miseries in which she was plunged at the end of 
the preceding reign, and was in a most flourishing 
state in regard to commerce and opulence, as well 
as to literature, sciences, and arts. - But at length 
the daemon of discord broke loose, and threw Eu- 
rope into a flame. In the year 1741, Lewis XV. 
joined with the king of Prussia in attacking the 
young queen of Bohemia and Hungary, who had 
succeeded her father the emperor Charles VI. 
in all the hereditary dominions of the house of 
Austria, m virtue of the pragmatic sanction which 
these princes had guaranteed. The French ar- 
mies poured themselves into Bohemia, where the 
marshals Belleisle and Broglio acquired, by their 
military talents, a most distinguished reputation. 
These two celebrated generals being deserted by 
the king of Prussia, who had concluded a treaty 
with Maria Theresa, and surrounded by the su- 
T 2 



ilO LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

perior forces of Austria, were twice obliged to 
shut themselves up in Prague, where they were 
closely besieged- Broglio having at length escap- 
ed from Prague in disguise, in order to take the 
command of the army in the Palatinate, Belleisle 
after sustaining a vigorous siege, at length burst 
out of the city, and .signalized his courage and 
conduct by a retreat, to which few parallels are 
found in the annals of war.; In the mean while 
Great Britain having espoused the cause of the 
young queen of Hungary, George II. put himself 
at the head of his army, and on the 26th of June 
1743 defeated marshal Noailles at the battle of 
Dettingen. 

74. George IL had hitherto acted in Germany 
only as an auxiliary to the queen of Bohemia and 
Hungary. But Lewis XV. now declared war 
against Great Britain, which was already engaged 
in a contest with Spain. The first step of the 
court of Versailles was to encourage the young 
Pretender to make a descent in Scotland, an en- 
terprise which exposed that adventurer to great 
hardships and dangers, and terminated in the ruin 
of his adherents. On the 30th of April, 1745, 
was fought the memorable battle of Fontenoy 
near Tournay, where the allied English, Austrian,. 
Dutch, and Hanoverian armies, commanded by 
the duke of Cumberland, received a bloody de- 
feat from the French, [under marshal count Saxe^ 
Lewis XV. and the dauphin being present at the 
action. The allies left about twelve thousand dead 
on the field, and the French lost nearly an equal 
number. But their victory gave them a decided 



JLETTESS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 2H 

superiority in the Netherlands. They again de- 
feated the allies at La Feldt, and after a siege of 
two months made themselves masters of Bergen- 
op-Zoom, a place until then deemed impregnable*, 
being surrounded by morasses, which rendered it 
almost inaccessible, and defended by fortifications 
that were regarded as the master- piece of the fa- 
mous engineer Coehorn. The reduction of this 
important fortress reduced the allies to the last ex- 
tremity; but the triumphs of the French in the 
Netherlands were counterbalanced by their losses 
in Italy and on the ocean. On all sides indeed 
the war was an alternation of success and miscar- 
riage, and the scales of advantage and loss were 
nearly equiponderant. 

75. All the belligerent powers at length being 
weary of a war in which all were losers, a congress 
was held at Aix-la-Chapelle, and on the 7th of 
October, A. D. 1748, a general peace was con- 
cluded. France, Spain, and Great Britain agreed 
to a mutual restitution of their conquests, and af- 
ter an enormous effusion of blood and expenditure 
of money, ended, like travellers moving in a circle, 
exactly at the point where they begun, a circum- 
stance which shows more plainly than a volume of 
arguments the folly of war. 

76. During the space of seven years Lewis XV, 
remained at peace with his neighbours. But the 
treaty of Aix la-Chapelle having left the bounda- 
ries of the French and English settlements in 
America undetermined, that circumstance gave 
rise to a new quarrel. The court of Versailles 
found a pretext for seizing all the country situated 



212 LETTERS ON FRENCH HTSTORt. 

on the shores of the great lakes and on the banks 
of the Ohio, and formed the design of construct- 
ing a line of forts from the river St, Lawrence to 
the Mississippi, — a plan which, if carried into ex- 
cution, would have reduced the British settlements 
to a narrow slip of land along the coasts of the At- 
lantic. The opposition oi the court of London to 
this project occasioned a new war between France 
and Great Britain, and in the year 1755 hostilities 
commenced with great vigour and activity./ The 
operations of the two first campaigns were to the 
advantage of the French, who made themselves 
masters of the isle of Minorca, and of several Eng- 
lish forts in America. ^ 

77. In the yeai\^1759lhostilities were renewed 
between Austria and Prussia. France entered into 
an alliance with the former, and England with the 
latter. Russia, Sweden and Saxony also joined in 
a confederacy with Austria, and the flames of war 
were kindled through ait Germany. The French 
took possession of Hanover; but in the following 
year they were driven out of that electorate. 

78. The scale of success now turned decidedly 
in favour of England. The British government 
subsidized the king of Prussia and several of the 
German princes, in order to oppose the French 
power on the continent. In the year 1758 the 
coasts of France were insulted by the English, who 
destroyed the shipping and stores in the neighbour- 
hood of St. M aloes, and demolished the fortifica- 
tions of Ch|?rbourg. In America they also made 
themselves masters of Louisburg, and of the forts 
of Frontenac and Du Quesne. The French also 



JLETTEUS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 21S 

lost the islands of Senegal and Goree on the coast 
of Africa. •^ 

79. The following year, 1756, was still more 
disastrous to France. Guadaloupe, the richest of 
her sugar islands, was taken by the English. The 
French under general Montcalm were defeated by 
general Wolf, on the heights of Abraham, near 
Quebec. Both the French and English generals 
lost their lives in this action, the former being 
mortally wounded, the latter killed in the field, 
and both were equally regretted for their martial 
abilities by their respective armies. This defeat 
of the French was followed by the loss of Quebec. 
On the 18th of September, A..iD. 1759, that city, 
the capital of Canada; surrendered to the English 
under brigadier general Townshend. In Germa- 
ny the French were not more successful. At the 
battle of Minden, on the 31st of July; the same 
year, the grand army of France was repulsed in 
several repeated attacks by a few regiments of Bri- 
tish infantry. 

80. On the 7th of September, 1760, the town 
of Montreal surrenderred to the British arms. 
By the reduction of that place, general Amherst 
completed the conquest of Canada, and the sub- 
version of the French empire in North America. 
This year was marked by the death of George II. 
king of Great Britain; but that circumstance did 
not relax the national energy. His successor, 
George III, called the whole force of his empire 
into action, and its efforts answered his most san- 
guine expectations. The French lost Pondicherry , 
the chief of their settlements in India; and the 



214 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

island of Beiieisle, near the coast of France, was 
compelled to surrender to a British armament. 

81. In the beginning of the year 1762, a rup- 
ture took place between Great Britain and Spain, 
in which the former was invariably successful. But 
the misfortunes of Spain did not put a stop to those 
of France- The islands of Martmico, Grenada, 
St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, were taken by the 
E.igiish; and the French h'c*d every reason to ap- 
prehend their complete expulsion from the West 
Indies. 

82. These misfortunes and losses induced the 
cabinets of Versailles and Madrid to make an un- 
provoked attack on Portugal; a kingdom, which, 
by reason of commercial connections, as well as 
political alliances, is always under the peculiar pro- 
tection of Great Britain. This expedient had the 
intended effect of embarrassing the British govern- 
ment, which found it necessary to send consider- 
able armaments to aid the Portuguese in repelling 
the invasion. But the marine and commerce of 
France, as well as of Spain, were almost anniliila- 
ted by the loss of so many colonies, and the victo- 
ries gained by the EngHsh fleets and squadrons; 
while the war in Germany was attended by such 
an alternation of success and disaster as caused its 
issue to appear exceedingly doubtful, 

83. All parties now began to be desirous of put- 
ting an end to hostilities, and on the 16th of Feb- 
ruary, ^1763,; the kings of France and Spain con- 
cluded a treaty of peace with his Britannic majesty 
and the king of Portugal France recovered the 
islands of Martinique^ Guadaloupe? Marigalantej 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 215 

and Deseada, but ceded to Great Britain all her 
possessions in North America, to the eastward of 
the Mississippi. In Africa, Goree was restored 
to France; but Englt.nd retained Senegal. Jn In- 
dia ail the places lost by the French were restoied, 
Oil condition that they should not maintain either 
forts or forces in Bengal. And in Germany as well 
as in Portugal, peace was concluded on the prin- 
ciple of mutual restitution. Excepting the con- 
test ior the Spanish succession, this was the most 
disastrous war that France had ever undertaken 
since the battle of Pavia. 

84. The remainder of the reign of Lewis XV. 
passed in peace, with the exception ot his enter- 
prise against Corsica The republic of Genoa, 
which had long pretended a right to the sove- 
reignty of that island, being unable to subdue its 
warlike inhabitants, transierred the claim on cer- 
tain conditions to France. Lew is sent an army 
to support his pretensions; and notwithstanding 
the vigorous resistance of the Corsicans under 
their celebrated general Paoli, the island was re- 
duced under subjection to the French sceptre. 
Lewis XV. died on the 10th of May, 1774, in 
the sixty- fifth year of his age, and the fifty -ninth 
of his reign. He resembled his grand father Lew- 
is XIV. ni his stature, in the strength and agility 
of his frame, in his dexterity in horsemanship, 
and other athletic exercises, as well as in his ma- 
jestic appearance. In regard to his character he 
was generous and benevolent, but like Lewis XIV. 
he was addicted to pleasure, and too liable to be 
influenced by mistresses and favourites. 



216 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

85 'Commerce, letters, and arts flourished ex- 
ceedingly in France during this reign. ^Before the 
commencement of the war with Great Britain, 
A. D. 1755, France had almost engrossed the 
sugar trade, and also that of indigo. Her East 
India trade was in a most flourishing state, and 
her Turkey trade, as well as the fur trade of Ca- 
nada, was extremely lucrative.* 

86. Literature, sciences, and arts also, were in 
a most flourishing state during the whole of this 
reign; and although the French had not any pain- 
ter equal to Poussin, Le Sueur, and Le Brun, 
who adorned the age of Lewis XIV. they still 
maintained in sculpture a decided superiority over 
all the nations of Europe, excepting perhaps the 
Italians; but in science, they were equalled, if not 
excelled by the English, who also made continual 
approaches to them in literature. The impulse 
.given in the reign of Lewis XIV. continued to 
operate during that of his successor. It would be 
tedious to enumerate all the great writers who, 
during those two reigns, shed a lustre on France. 
As the names of Moliere, Corneille, and Racine; 
of Pascal, Fenelon, Dacier, Bossuet, Boileau, &c. 
were the glory of the age of Lewis XIV.^ that of 
Lewis XV. was eminently distinguished by those 
of Voltaire and Rousseau; of Montague, Fonte- 
nelle, De Guignes, D'Alembert, Dom. Calmet, 
Montesquieu, and Buffbn J besides many others of 
great merit and eminence.? Every one is acquaint, 
ed with the seductive style of Voltaire and of 
Rousseau; but unhappily their writings are too 
much tinctured with infidelity. In Scriptural cri- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 21T 

ticism, Dom. Calmet, was never excelled. Buf- 
foil, the philosophical painter of nature; and Mon- 
tesquieu, the legislator of nations, are read in eve- 
ry language and country. In a word, the age of 
Lewis XIV. and that of Lewis XV. have produ- 
ced almost all those distinguished works in the 
French language which we now so greatly admire. 
87. Lewis XV. was succeeded by his grand- 
son, the unfortunate Lewis XVI, who ascended 
the throne A. D. 1774, in the twentieth year of 
his age. Being in the bloom of youth, at peace 
with all his neighbours, in alliance with Spain, 
and closely connected with Austria, this prince 
had every reason to promise himself a long, tran- 
quil, and prosperous reign. Soon after his acces- 
sion, he reduced the number of the royal guards, 
which were supported at a great expense, and made 
several other regulations that were highly benefi- 
cial to the public. In the second year of his 
reign, A. D. 1776, he showed his Hberality of 
mind, in placing the celebrated M. Neckar, a 
Protestant, and a native of Switzerland, at the 
head of the finances, contrary to the former policy 
of France, which had constantly excluded the ali- 
ens of her country and faith, from the control of 
the revenue. The distinguished abilities of M. 
Neckar justified his appointment, and showed that 
the king had consulted the real interest of the 
state; and under this judicious minister a reform 
took place in every department of the finances. 
Lewis XVI. also shewed a regard for the interests 
of science; and actuated by a laudable zeal, he fit' 
ted out several vessels for the purpose of makmg 



218 LETTERS 0N FRENCH HISTORY 

discoveries, and extending the limits of geographi- 
cal and astronomical knowledge. 

88. These were the halcyon days of Lewis XVI. 
of France, and of Europe But the war which 
had commenced between Great Britain and her 
American colonies soon spread its bdlelui influence 
on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans 
had long solicited succours from France; but 
Lewis XVL hesitated to engage in a contest 
which presented so doubtful an aspect. I he 
court was at that time divided into two parties. 
The count de Vergennes and M, Turgotkrong- 
ly recommended a system of neutrality; but the 
war faction having, it is said, the queen at its head 
urged the expediency of seizing so favourable an 
opportunity of dismembering the British empire. 
The capture of general Burgoyne and his army at 
Saratoga, seemed to promise further success to 
the colonists, and fixed the w^avering politics of 
the court of Versailles. A treaty of alliance was 
concluded on the 6th of February, 1778, between 
his most Christian majesty and the United States 
of America. 

89. In consequence of this treaty, by which 
France was drawn into a war with Great Britain, 
the count D'Estaign, with an armament consist- 
ing of twelve ships of the line, and six frigates, 
having on hoard a strong body of land forces, sail- 
ed from 'ioulon for America. His destination was 
the Delaware f his aim was to seize on the British 
squadron in that river, and to capture the army of 
general Clinton, then in Philadelphia. But an 
unusual continuance of adverse winds protracted 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 219 

the voyage of the French admiral across tlie Atlan- 
tic to the extraordinary length of eighty-seven 
days.y^ This circumstance gave time to the En- 
glish to evacuate Philadelphia, and save both their 
fleet and their army. D'Estaign, on his arrival at 
the Capes of the Delaware, finding his views dis- 
appointed, sailed to the river Savannah, in Geor- 
gia, where he landed his troops. Having been 
joined by a body of Americans, he made a despe- 
rate attack on the British forces at Savannah, but 
was repulsed with great loss. After this transac- 
tion, he left the coast of North z\merica, and pro- 
ceeded to the West Indies, where he took pos- 
session of the islands of St. Vincent and Grenada. 

90. Tiie court of Madrid was now induced to 
engiige in the war against Great Britain; and the 
naval force of France being joined by that of 
Spam, their combined fleets rode for some time 
triumphant in the channel. Their armaments, in- 
deed, appeared so formidable, that England was 
under great apprehensions of an immediate des- 
cent; but no attempt at a landing was made, and 
they soon returned to port. A victory gained oft' 
Cape St. Vincent by admiral Rodney, over the 
Spanish fleet, turned the scale of naval success on 
the side of Gi^eat Britain. But on the 8th of Au- 
gust, A. D. 1780, the combined fleets of France 
and Spain captured five English East Indiamen, 
and fifty merchant ships, bound for the West In- 
dies. In the following year, Holland joined in the 
war against Great Britain; and the French made 
themselves masters of the island of Tobago. 

91. But it was on the continent of North Ame- 



230 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

rica that the most important transactions took 
place. After a campaign distinguished by judici- 
ous and skilful manoeuvres, the French and Ame- 
rican generals Rochambeau and Washington, sur- 
rounded ilord Cornwallis at York Town, in Vir. 
ginia; and on the 19th of October, 1781, obliged 
him to surrender himself and his army, consisting 
of above seven thousand men, prisoners of war: a 
frigate, with a number of transports, and fifteen 
hundred seamen, shared the same fate. This 
event may be said to have established the indepen- 
dence of the American colonies, the grand object 
of this extensive war. 

92. In the beginning of the year 1782, the 
French wrested from Great Britain the islands of 
Nevis, and St. Christopher, in the West Indies. 
The next object which they had in contemplation 
wasvthe conquest of the important island of Jamai- 
ca; but the execution of that design was prevent- 
ed by the vigilance and activity of admiral Rod- 
ney; /who, on the 12th of April, fell in with and 
totally defeated the French fleet under the count 
de Grasse, in its way to join that of the Spaniards 
at St. Domingo.y The Ville de Paris, of a hun- 
dred and ten guns, with the French admiral on 
board, was taken, besides two ships of seventy- 
four, and one of sixty-four guns: a seventy-four 
also blew up, and another of the same rate was 
sunk. And by a singular coincidence, thirty- six 
chests of money, intended for the pay and subsis- 
tence of the troops destined for the conquest of 
Jamaica, with the whole train of artillery, the bat- 
tering cannon, and travelling carriages, chanced to 



LEl'TEHS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 221 

be on board of the captured vessels, a circum- 
stance which totally disabled the French from 
continuing offensive operations in the West In- 
dies. 

93. This was the last important transaction that 
took place between France and England during 
the war. ,Negociations soon after commenced; 
and onthe/20th of January, 1783,1 the prelimina- 
ries of peace were agreed on by all the belligerent 
powers. France restored to Great Britain the 
islands of Grenada, St. Christopher, St. Vincent, 
Dominica, Nevis, and Montserrat. Great Bri- 
tain ceded to France all that the latter possessed 
before the war; with the island of Tobago in the 
West Indies, and the forts on the river of Senegal 
in Africa, with their dependencies; and restored 
Pondicherry, Karical, Mahe, Chandernagore, and 
the comptoir of Surat in the East Indies. The 
limits of the Newfoundland fishery between the 
two nations were settled, and Great Britain re- 
nounced all her claims by former treaties, with 
respect to the demolition of the fortifications of 
Dunkirk. The treaties between the other belli- 
gerents do not come within the limits of our plan; 
bu^t may not be amiss, although it is scarcely 
necessary to add, that the independence of the 
American States was recognized by Great Britain. 

94. France had now attained her grand object, 
the dismemberment of the British empire, which 
had so long been her rival in arts and in arms. 
Her commerce began to flourish, and she appeared 
again in the zenith of her political greatness. In 
this season of peace and prosperity, Lewis XVI*. 

u 2 



2^2 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

could have no apprehension of being hurled from a 
throne on which he seemed to sit so secure. That 
throne, however, was secretly undermined, and 
tottering to its fall, i During the space of half a 
century, France had been a hot~bed of irreligion 
and infidelity, which was constantly producing ex- 
uberant crops. A numerous and indefatigable 
band of deists, materialists and republicans, had 
assumed the imposing name of philosophers, and 
laboured to diminish, or rather to annihilate the 
respect of the people for every thing that mankind 
had been accustomed to consider as sacred. / Prin- 
ciples and notions formerly unheard of, or regarded 
with horror, were engrafted into the minds of the 
rising generation; and a spirit of hostility to reli- 
gion and government w^as diffused amongst al 
classes of the people by numerous writings, the 
vehicles of infidelity and republicanism. The 
theatre was converted into a medium through which 
democratical principles were inculcated; and the 
republican heroes of Greece and Rome were in 
almost every dramatic performance, the only cha- 
racters held up to the admiration of the French pub- 
lic. Mistaken notions of liberty thus concurred 
with the efforts of infidelity, in eflecting a mental 
revolution in France, of which the government 
seems not to have been aware; but which, in pro- 
cess of time, produced the most tremendous poli- 
tical concussions; and the court continued to act 
on principles long since exploded, without paying 
attention to the altered complexion of the times. 
During the reign of Lewis XV 1. institutions and 
opinions were completely at variance: the royal 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 223 

authority was absolute, without any fixed basis, 
the church was pre-eminent and powerful; but the 
influence of religion was extinct. Every thing pre- 
sented a heterogeneous mixture of antiquated forms 
and new ideas. The ancient system, political, ci- 
vil, and ecclesiastical, stood isolated in the nation, 
like the leafless trunk of an aged tree in the midst 
of the forest. And France exhibited the singular 
phcenomenon of a country in which the religion 
was Catholic, and the government absolute monar- 
chy; but education and ideas were deistical and 
republican. Such an unnatural union of contrary 
elements could not fail of producing some great 
explosion. 

95. The revolution in America contributed t o 
produce, or at least to accelerate, that which fol- 
lowed soon after in France. / At that critical junc- 
ture, when the minds of tlie French were cor- 
rupted by doctrines and principles which tended 
to subvert the altar and the throne, the court of 
Versailles, unfortunately for itself, espoused the 
cause of the American colonies in their contest 
with Great Britain. The officers and soldiers of 
France, who served in that war, having imbibed 
enthusiastic notions of liberty amongst a people 
who by their aid, had acquired independence, re- 
turned to their own country with a strong predi- 
lection for the democratical form of government. 
From that time a numerous party in France be- 
came desirous of establishing a republic on the 
ruins of the monarchy. 

96. While the democratical party only wanted a 
favourable occasion for carrying its plans into ex- 



224 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

ecutiony the disordered state of the finances ush- 
ered ins a train of circumstances favourable to its 
views. The financial concerns of the kingdom 
had for some years been ably directed by M. Nec- 
kar; but his plans of reform not being agreeable 
to the predominant party at court, he was dismis- 
sed from his office. After his dismissal, the ma- 
nagement of the revenue fell into the hands of min- 
isters, who wanted either his integrity or his abili- 
tiesj and in the year 1785,/the finances were in so 
deranged a state, as to set the king and the parlia- 
ment of Paris completely at variance, / 

97. The comptroller-general at that time was 
the famous M. de Galonne; who, although sup- 
ported by the approbation of the sovereign, felt 
himself severely mortified by the opposition of the 
parliament and the murmurs of the people. Hav- 
ing found that the annual expenditure far exceed- 
ed the national revenue, and that the state of the 
public mind rendered the imposition of new taxes 
by royal authority dangerous, if not impossible, 
he suggested to Lewis XVI. the expediency of 
convening an assembly of notables, consisting of a 
numberof persons from different parts of the king- 
dom, selected from the higher orders of the state, 
and nominated by the sovereign. This assembly 
met on the 26th of January, 1787, and M. de Ca- 
lonne presented his new plan of reform and taxa- 
tion. ^ The great and essential object was to equalize 
the public burdens; and by rendering the system 
of taxation general, to diminish the weight whichv 
had lain so long on the lower classes of the people. ) 
The nobility, the clergy, and the magistrates, had 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 255 

hitherto enjoyed an exemption from the taxes on 
land. But the project of the comptroller general 
was to establish a new land-tax, from which no 
rank or order of subjects should be exempted. — 
This plan of taxation was strongly opposed by the 
nobility, clergy, and magistracy. The influence 
of the minister sunk before that of the privileged 
orders. M. de Calonne therefore resigned his of- 
fice; and to avoid persecution retired to England. 

98. The notables refusing to share with the 
people in supporting the public burden, the as- 
sembly was dissolved without having accomplished 
any beneficial purpose; and the disputes between 
the king and the parliament of Paris became daily 
more serious. Lewis XVI. although of a mild 
and benovolent disposition, could not resign with- 
out a struggle, the authority which had so long 
been exercised by his predecessors: the parlia- 
ment was banished to Troyes; but the public in- 
dignation was so great, and so openly expressed, 
that it was shortly after recalled. 

99. In order to calm the troubles of the state, 
which daily assumed a more menacing appearance, 
the king resolved to convene the states- general; 
which, consisting like the British parliament, of 
the nobility, the prelates, and commons, or repre- 
sentatives of the people, had from the time of 
Philip the Fair, been considered as the legitimate 
assembly of the nation; but which had not met 
since the year 1614, when it was convoked in the 
minority of Lewis XIII. by the queen regent, 
Mary de Medicis. The states- general met on the 
appointed day, 1st of May, 1789; but their first 



226 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

proceedings were attended by iaauspicious cii*- 
CLimstances. Unanimity of counsel was prevent- 
ed by the opposite views of the different orders; 
and the people, distracted by various rumours, 
imagined that these dissensions were fomented by 
the intrigues oF the court. An unusual scarcity 
of provisions, at the same time, increased the fer- 
ment; and the populace corrupted by democratic 
priujipies, ascribed every evil, whedier political 
or nacural , to regal or aristocratical influence. The 
aspect oi Paris became daily more formidable and 
menacing, and the murmurs of its immense po- 
pulation were changed into loud and violent decla- 
mations. In the mean while, an army of thirty 
thousand men, commanded by marshal Broglio, 
was assembled in the vicinity of Paris; and if 
Lewis XVI. had been Vi^iliing to expose the lives 
and property of the citizens to the fury of the sol- 
diery, the capital might probably have been held in 
obedience. But Lewis imitated the conduct of 
the great and good Henry IV. Had Lewis XI. 
Lewis XIV. or Napoleon, been in his situation, 
they would probably not have been dethroned; 
they would have sacrificed the metropolis to their 
own security. 

100. While the court appeared embarrassed, 
and doubtful what measures to take, the general 
ferment in Paris increased; and the French guards 
mixing with the citizens, imbibed the same revo- 
lutionary spirit. The people at length broke out 
into open revolt, rushed to the Hotel cles Invalids; 
and seized on the arms there deposited. Being 
now supplied with arms and ammunition, and 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 227 

joined by the guards, the Parisians broke through 
every restraint. 

101. But while the Bastile remained in the 
power of the crown, the revolutionists could not 
think themselves in security. ' On the 14th of July, 
A. D. 1789,J that awful fortress of despotism, of 
which the name had for ages inspired terror, was 
invested by a mixed multitude of citizens, and sol- 
diers who had joined the popular banner. De 
Launay, the governor, displayed a flag of truce, 
and demanded a parley; but abusing the confidence 
which that signal inspired, he discharged a heavy 
fire of cannon and musketry on the besiegers. 
This act of treachery, far from intimidating the 
people, only inflamed their raece, and rendered them 
desperate. They renewed the actack w ith a valour 
raised to frenzy. The Bastile was carried by as- 
sault. The governor being seized, was instantly 
massacred, and his head was carried in triumph 
through the streets of the capital 

102. In the gloomy apartments of this justly 
dreaded state prison, which had so long been sacred 
to silence and despair, was found, amongst other 
engines of cruelty, an iron cage, containing the 
skeleton of a man, who had probably lingered out 
a considerable part of his existence in that horrid 
abode. Amongst the prisoners released by the 
destruction of this fortress, (were major White, a 
native of Scotland, and the count de Lorges: the 
former appeared to have his intellectual faculties 
greatly impaired by long confinement and misery, 
and from being unaccustomed to converse with 
mankind, he had forgotten the use of speech: the 



2J8 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

latter was exhibited to the public in the Palais Roy- 
al; and his squalid appearance, his white beard, 
which descended to his waist, and his imbeeiliity, 
the direful effect of an imprisonment of thirty-two 
years, rendered him an object perfectly adapted to 
operate on the passions of every spectator. The 
Basiile was levelled to the ground, and with it the 
despotism of the French monarchy fell prostrate 
in the dust, 

103. Had the Parisians stopped at this point, 
their proceedings would have merited the applause 
of posterity. But tremendous riots in the capital 
and at Versailles, which menaced the lives of the 
king and queen, and the "gardes du corps," show- 
ed that the fury of the populace was not yet satis^^ 
fied. These, however, being only the acts of a 
frantic mob, were not productive of any important 
results. The popular frenzy at length began to 
subside, and the public tranquillity seemed to be 
restored. 

1G4. TheiUth of July, A. D. 1790„the anni- 
versary of the capture of the Bastile, was distin- 
guished by one of the most magnificent and inte- 
resting scenes ever exhibited in any age or coun- 
try. This was the grand confederation celebrated 
in the '*Champ de Mars," — apiece of groundad- 
joining to Paris, about eight hundred yards in 
length, bounded on each side by lofty trees, and 
commanding at the farther extremity a view of the 
military academy. In the middle of this field an 
altar was erected, for the purpose of administering 
the civic oath, and around it w as thrown up an im- 
mense amphitheatre, capable of containing four 



LETTEl^S ON FRENCH HISTORY. 229 

hundred thousand spectators, the entrance was 
through triumphal arches: the king's throne was 
placed under an elegant pavilion, and on each side 
were seats for the members of the national assem- 
bly. Here the national guards of the departments, 
distinguished by their respective standards, the 
battalions of infantry, the troops of cavalry, &:c. 
being ranged in military order, the king, the na- 
tional assembly, and the armed citizens, bound 
themselves by a solemn oath to maintain the new 
constitution which the assembly had framed. 'J 'he 
same oath was taken on the same day in every part 
of the kingdom. 

105. 1 he revolution now seemed to be com- 
pleted, and every thing displayed an aspect of tran- 
quillit}^ The French nation imagined that the 
poetical fiction of a golden age was about to be 
realized. Many persons in England were also of 
the same opinion. But the glittering prospect was 
illusory, and direful events were in embryo. The 
king appears to have regarded the oath which he 
had taken as compulsory, and saw himself divest- 
ed of a great part of tlie power which he had inhe- 
rited from his predecessors. His brothers, the 
count of Provence, now Lewis XVIH. and the 
count d'Artois, as well as the prince de Conde, 
with some other princes of the blood, and several 
nobles of high rank and fortune, had, at the com- 
mencement of the disturbances, retired from France 
and found an asylum in Germany. Lewis XVL 
conceiving himself to be laid under undue restric- 
tions, resolved to adopt the same measure. In 
the night of the<20th of June, 1791^ the king aiid 
X 



230 LETTEK S ON PBENCH mSTORY. 

queen, with their family, made their escape from 
Paris. But their plans being ill- concerted, and 
their mode of travelling calculated to excite suspi- 
cion, they were arrested at Varennes, in proceed- 
ing towards the German frontier, and reconducted 
to the Tuilleries. This singular and unfortunate 
occurrence destroyed all confidence between the 
nation and the king. 

106. In the mean while, the conduct of the em« 
peror Leopold towards France appeared undeci- 
ded. But the conclusion of the treaty of Pilnitz, 
and the favour which he showed to the emigrants, 
were proofs of his being no friend to the revolu- 
tionists. His unexpected death, which happened 
on the 1st of March, 1792, after a sickness of only 
four days, was followed by the accession of his son, 
Francis II. who succeeded him in his hereditary 
domuiions, and on the 14th of July, the same year, 
was elected emperor. This prince, encouraged 
by the court of Berlin, assumed a decided tone in 
his negotiations with the French ministers. The 
proposals which he made were deemed inadmissi- 
ble; and the revolutionists weie determined to com- 
mence hostilities. On the 24th of April, 1792, a 
declaration of war against the king of Hungary 
and Bohemia was decreed by the national assem- 
bly, and ratified by the French monarch. In the 
mean while, the cambined armies of Austria and 
Prussia were ready to enter France; and their ge- 
neral, the duke of Brunswick, published a decla- 
ration, threatening the city of Paris with military 
execution, and total destruction, in case that the 
least outrage should be offered to the king, the 
queen, or any of the royal family. \ 



LV.TTERS ON FRENCH HlSTOllY. 231 

107. This thundering menace, in all probahili- 
iy,( deter mined, or at least accelerated the fate of 
Lewis XVI. and his family J The hostile armies 
were advancing towards Paris; and the people 
imagined the court was in a league with their ene- 
mies. A terrible scene was the consequence. At 
midnight, between the 9th and 10th of August, 
the alarm-bell was rung in every quarter of the 
capital, the drums beat to arms, and an immense 
multitude attacked the palace of the Tuilleries. 
The Swiss guards at first repelled the populace; 
but the assailants redoubling their efforts, the pa» 
lace was carried by storm: the apartments, the 
passages, and courts soon streamed with blood: 
the Swiss were massacred, and all the royalists 
were killed or dispersed. The king, the queen, 
and the royal family fled for refuge to the national 
assembly. 

108. The nearer approach of the Prussian army 
occasioned new outrages. The prisons of Paris 
were filled with nobles, ecclesiastics, and opulent 
citizens, suspected of favouring the court and the 
aristocratical party. The Jacobinical demagogues 
urged the expediency of destroying these unfortu- 
nate persons before the enemy should reach the 
capital. On the 2d and 3d of September, bands 
of ferocious assassins burst open the prisons, and 
massacred all the aristocrats, many of whom were 
persons of high distinction; but neither rank, age, 
nor sex was respected by the jacobins; and Paris 
flowed with blood, while no constitutional authority 
existed that was able to put a stop to those horrible 
outrages. The power of the legislative assembly 



2«2 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

was annihilated; and from this moment the cannon 
of the Parisians dictated all its decrees^- The pe- 
riod which ensued has been justly denominated 
the reign of terror. 

109. During these transactions, general La 
Fayette, who had distinguished himself in the 
American war, and been a zealous promoter of the 
revolution, was desirous of supporting the consti- 
tutional monarchy. But on finding himself mark- 
ed out for destruction by the Jacobinical party, he 
resolved to avoid the scaffold by quitting his coun- 
try, in company with Bureau de Pusy, La Tour 
Maubourg, and Alexander Lameth. These illus- 
trious fugitives, being arrested by the Austrians, 
and carried to the prison of Olmutz, underwent a 
series of sufferings seldom parellelled in a civilized 
country- Nothing could be more impolitic than 
this conduct of the Austrians. It taught the con- 
stitutionalists, who wished to save the throne, to 
expect the same treatment as the jacobins by whom 
it was overturned, and united all France in one 
common cause^. 

110. A new national assembly, which took the 
name of "The convention," met on the 24th of 
September, 1792;\ and on the opening of the ses- 
sion, the abolition of monarchy was decreed, and 
France was declared a republic. But the assem- 
bly itself was a hot- bed of factions. > Marat, Ro- 
bespierre, and others, formed a party, which being 
supported by the jacobins and the mob of the cit}-, 
was too powerful for the convention, which was 
now overawed by the Parisian populace. 

111. During the time that Paris exhibited 



I.ETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 233 

scenes of anarchy and blood, the French arms 
were astonishingly successful. In the month of 
Sej)tember, Savoy was conquered by general 
Montesquiou. At the same time the invading ar- 
mies suffered such distress from a scarcity of pro- 
visions, a rainy season, and an epidemical sick- 
ness, that the Prussians retreated from France with 
the loss of(half their troopsj' and the Austrians 
soon adopted the same measure. General Cus- 
tine, following them in their retreat, entered Ger- 
many about the end of September, and captured 
Spires, Worms, iMentz, and Frankfort. The re- 
public now extended its conquests on every side. 
General Dumourier entered the Netherlands, and 
on the 6th of November a bloody and decisive ac- 
tion took place at the village of Jemappe, in the 
neighborhood of Mons. The Austrians were to- 
tally defeated; nnd in a short time every town in 
the Netherlands, except Luxemburg, surrender, 
ed to the French arms. 

112. While the armies of the republic were 
making these rapid conquests, the national con- 
vention alarmed all the neighbouring powers, by 
indicating a design of rendering the revolutionary 
system universRl. On the 19th of November that 
assembly published a decree, promising fraternity 
and aid to the subjects of every state that should 
erect the standard of revolt against their respective 
rulers. This decree, which, in its absurdity and 
impolitic tendency, could only be equalled by the 
duke of Brunswick's threatening manifesto,' was 
justly considered as equivalent to a declaration of 
X 2 



2g4 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

war against all the existing governments of Eu- 
rope, 

113. This slight sketch of the French revolu- 
tion, while passing through its first stages, has 
now brought us to the melancholy catastrophe of 
Lewis XVI. His memorable trial commenced on 
the 11th December, 1792, and its fatal issue is uni- 
versally known. He was condemned to suffer 
death by the guillotine; and on th6, 2 1st of Janua- 
ry, 1793,\ he was publicly executed. In his last 
moments he displayed the fortitude of a hero, com- 
bined with the resignation of a Christian. All Eu- 
rope deplored the tragical fate of a prince, who, 
after having adopted so lenient measures at the 
commencement of the revolution, showed a firm- 
ness on the scaffold which made it appear not im- 
probable, that if he could have taken away the 
lives of his subjects with the same indifference 
with which he resigned his own, he might have 
avoided his misfortunes, and maintained himself 
on the throne . 

114. Lewis XVI. was one of the most benefi- 
cent princes that had ever reigned over France. 
He encouraged letters and commerce: even amidst 
the fury of war, he showed a regard to the interests 
of science. \ Previous to the commencement of 
hostilities in the American war, two ships, com- 
manded by captains Cook and Clerk, had been 
sent from England on a voyage of discovery,* and 
Lewis, with a generosity which reflects the high- 
est honour on his character, commanded all his 
naval officers to treat them as neutral vessels. 
This unfortunate monarch has been blamed for 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV. i3S 

not taking more decisive measures at the com- 
mencement of the revolution; but it ought to be 
considered that he was placed in a new and singu- 
lar situation, which rendered the least error in his 
conduct productive of disastrous consequences. 

115. You have now, my dear Sir, enjoyed the 
opportunity ot contemplating the French monar- 
chy rising from a state of civil commotion and an- 
archy to its highest pitch of political power and 
internal despotism, and the nation rapidly advan- 
cing to the summit of literary and scientific, as well 
as military glory. But the moral as well as the 
physical world is in a state of perpetual revolu- 
tion. You have, in die period here brought for- 
ward to your inspection, seen that powerful mo- 
narchy, like a lofty oak stricken by the lightnings 
fall prostrate in the dust, at the moment in which 
it exhibited the most flourishing appearance of 
vigour; and that polished people sink from the 
highest pitch of civilization to a most degrading 
state of barbarity. The despotism of the French 
monarchy was established in the reigns of Lewis 
XIII. and Lewis XIV. by the abilities of their 
ministers, Richelieu and Mazarin. Prescription, 
submission, and military strength, seemed to have 
rendered it sacred and unassailable; but as soon as 
a revolution had taken place in the public mind, 
as soon as the veneration of the people for monar- 
chy was changed into contempt and aversion, that 
power, which had derived its strength from the 
loyalty as much as from the dread of the subject, 
expired without a struggle. From this we may 
see, that a free constitution is the best calculated 



^3B LETTERS ON FRENCH fflSTORr. 

to secure the authority of the monarch as well as 
the happiness of the people. Despotism throws 
the whole care and responsibility of government 
upon the sovereign, and while it seems to augment 
his power, renders it fluctuating and precarious. 
Had France been a limited monarchy, Lewis XVI. 
would never have been placed in so difficult a 
situation. 

116. The gradual and silent operation of the 
causes which produced a mental revolution in 
France, previous to that which took place in the 
government, highly merits the attention of the mo- 
ral philosopher, and exhibits a memorable instance 
of the dreadful effects of infidelity and mistaken 
notions of liberty. But you must also have per- 
ceived, that the calamities with which the revolu- 
tion was attended in the different stages of its pro- 
gress, were caused, or at least greatly aggravated 
by mutual distrust, and the political errors of all 
parties. In reflecting on the ill planned and un- 
fortunate flight of Lewis XV I. from Paris, which, 
destroyed all confidence between him and his peo- 
ple; the impolitic manifesto of the Prussian gene- 
ral, which precipitated the fate of the royal family; 
and the harsh treatment of La Fayette, and his 
companions, which united the factions against fo- 
reign force, and excited that desperate enthusiasm 
which pervaded the people and armies of France, 
we cannot be at a loss to account for the conse- 
quences. And if we consider the absurd and im- 
politic decree issued by the convention, on the 
19th of November, 1792, which so greatly coi> 
tributed to arm all Europe against the republic,- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^7 

besides a variety of other mistakes, both in politi- 
cal and military concerns, committed both by the 
French and their enemies, we cannot but perceive 
that the revolutionary period was distinguished by 
egregious errors, as well as by extraordinary ex- 
ertions. ^ 

I shall now leave you to revolve in your mind 
subjects so extremely interesting to the philoso- 
phical reader of history, and presume that you 
will not doubt my sincerity, when I assure you, 
that with high esteem, and unfeigned affection, 

I am, dear Sir, 

Your^s, &c. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — What was the descent of Henry IV? 

2. — Who sent troops to his aid? 

3. — Who aided Henry, and who supported the league? 

4. — When did Henry make his abjuration? j^- ' 

5. — In what year did he isswe the edict of Nantes? 

6 Where, and b}^ whom was Henry IV. assasinated? 

7. What was his character? 

8.— Who introduced silk worms into France? 

9. What was then the state of Paris? 

10 Who succeeded Henry IV? 

11.... .^-. ^ 

1:2.-— What where the great objects of cardinal Richelieu? 
1 3 



14.— Who took Rochelle? 

15.— On what terms did the Protestants make peace? 
16.— When wasGustavus Adolphus killed?^ 
I7.---H0W many soMiers were raised amongst the domes- 
tics and apprentices of Paris? 
18. — Who fell victims to cardinal Richelieu? 
19....What was the character of cardinal Richelieu? 



238 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

20.— What was the character of Lewis XIII? 

21.— At^vvhat age did Lewis XIV. begin his reign? 

22. — Who was made chief minister in France? At \ Ct 
When was the peace of Munster concluded?/^ ^/^ 

23. — What French prince went over to the Spaniards? 

24.^ With whom did Mazarin enter into alliaacej^ 

25. — What did Mazarin and Colbert effect? 

26.^ — Who fortified the towns taken in Flanders. &c? 

27. — What was the object of the kings of France and 
England? 

28. — When was the sea-fight between the duke of York 
and admiral De Ruyter? / *^ihM //^^i 

29,— 'When did Lewis XIV*. enter tJtrec^? 4 «? ')^v■^.. 

30.— What measures were taken by the people of Amster- 
dam? What project did thejform? 

31. — Who was elected stadtholder? 

32. . 

33. — Who challenged marshal Turenne to single combat? 

34. — How was marshal Turenne killed? 

35. — Who supplied his loss? 

36.— What towns did the French take in 1667? i 

37. — When did France obtain heir iron frontier? *C^^ 

38. — What prince acquired the ascendancy in Europe? 

39. — Who seized on Strasburg? 

40. — What was the strength of the French navj? 

42. — What was the state of the French manufactures? 

43. — When was France in her most flourishing state? 

44. — How did Lewis conduct himself towards the pope? 

45. — Who formed a league against France? 

46. — What country did the French devastate? 

47.—- What caused England to join the confederacy against 

France? 
48. — What was the character of marshal Catinat? 

49. — Whodefeated the combined English and Dutch fleets? 

50 . , 

51. — Who directed the attacks against Namur? 
52.-— Who defeated William ill. at Steinkirk? 



54, — Who gained the victory off Cape La Hogue? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^2r9 

55. — 'Who gained the victory at Neerwiiiden? 

56. 

57. _. 



58. — What was the character of the duke of Luxemburg? 
59.— In what year was the treaty of Uyswick? 

60. .-.-_ 

61. — What was the object of the league called the triple 

alliance? 
62. — When was the battle of Blenheim? \ . 

When was the battle of Ramilies?^ , ^> 
63. — W^hen was the battle of Almanza? ] 7 ■' '^ 
64. — When was the battle of Malplaquet?] >^ ^''.f 

65. . : iX'l .Qlt^l- ^ 

66. — What circumstances saved Lewis XIV. from ruin? 
67.-— How long did Lewis XIV. reign.?j ^\ • '■-. , ^ / 

What were his corporeal and me1it4l qualities? 

To whom must the brilliant achievements of his 
reign be ascribed? 
68. — Who established despotism in France? 
62. — What was the character of Lewis XIV. as a patron 

of literature, &.C.? 
70. — At what age did Lewis XV. begin to reign? I 
71. — What was the character of the duke of Orleans, rC'- 

gent of Fiance? 
72. — When was Lorrain united to France? 
73. — In what state was France aljout that time? 

What French geneial made so masterly a retreat 
fiom Prague? 
74. — Who gai. ed the victory of Fontenoy? 
75. — When was the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle? 

How did the war end? 
7Q. — What was the cause of the next war between France 

and Great Britain? 

77.-' 

78. 

79. — When did Quebec surrender to the English? 
30. — In what year did the English make themselves mas- 
ters of Montreal, Pondicherry, and Belleisle? 

81. . 

82.-^ . 



240 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

^3. — In what year was the peace of Paris concluded? / ? 

84. ^ ^ : ^ 

85. — In what state was the French commerce previous 
to the year 1755? 

86. — What distinguished writers flourished in the reigns 
of Lewis XIV. and XV? 

87. — In what year, and at what age did Lewis XVL be- 
gin his reign? ^ j , ' ''• i 

88. — What French ministers' opposed the alliance be- 
tween Fiance and America? 

89. — W hat was the design of D"Estaign's expedition to 
America, and how was its success prevented? 

90. ; 

91. — When, and where did lord Cornwallis surrender to 
the French and Americans? i v ' ^ 

92.— What was the plan of the count de Grasse? 
How was its execution pievented? 

93. — When was peace concluded? 

94. — What was the nature of the education and ideas in 
France previous to the revolution? 

95. — To what did the American revolution contribute? 

96. — In ivhat state were the French finances in 1785. 

97, — What was M de Calonne's project of taxation? 

98.— ^ — 

99, — When did the states-general meet? / 

100.— —— ^ ^ 

jOi. — When was the Bastile taken.^j Ci. )«i^ 
10£.-— What prif^oners were liberated.^ 

103. ■ 

104. — When was the grand confederation solemnized.^/ 'V/>|i 
105. — When did Lewis XVI. attempt to escape^^ , ! 
106. — When did France declare war against Austria.^/ r •} 

What did the duke of Brunswick threaten in his 
nianifesto.^ 
107.— What was the consequence of this menace.^ 
108.— Who dictated the measures of the national assembly 
109. — What was the consequence of the arrest and ill 

treatment of La Fayette and his companions.? 
110. — When did the national convention meet? 

Whftt was it« stated 



■J 



JLKTTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 241 

1 1 1.— What was the loss of the Prussians in their invasion 
of Francc^^ 

1 1 2. . ^ — : 

1 13— Wiien was Lewis XVI. executed.^ :7 ,.i 
114.— What was the character of Lewis XVL^ 
1 15.— What system of government affords the greatest se- 
curity to the prince.^ 
1 I().— What were the principal errors of the revolutionists 
and their enemies.^ 



LETTER XL 

Comprising a period of eleven years and four 
months, wanting three days, from the death of 
Lt^wis XV L2\st January, 1793, to the establish- 
ment of the empire under Napoleon Buonaparte ^ 
on the ISth of May, 1804. 



Government of Fiance. 


King of Great Britain. 


Republic. 


George III. 



DEAR SIR, 

HISTORY often wearies us with repeated 
details of political intrigues, and military transac- 
tions, widiout any important consequences, exhi- 
biting an uniform series of pictures, with little va- 
riation in their outlines or colouring. But now a 
spectacle more striking will arrest your attention; 
a new phaenomenon appears, and you must pre- 
pare for the contemplation of events that bafRed 
all political calculation. 

1. The catastrophe of Lewis XVL excited the 
Y 



J42 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

just indignation of Europe; and all the powers of 
this quarter of the globe resolving to crush, if 
possible, a revolutionary and regicidal system, 
which threatened the subversion of all existing go- 
vernments, formed a confederacy more extensive 
and formidable than any other that history com- 
memorates. ijGreat Britain, Holland, Spain, Por- 
tugal, and the princes of Germany and Italy, uni- 
ted with /Vustria and Prussia against the French 
republic; land such was the general exasperation, 
that Paris seemed destined to experience the fate 
of Troy. Tyrannised at home by sanguinary an- 
archists, and menaced from abroad by the combi- 
ned forces of Europe, the French nation seemed 
wholly incapable of extricating itself from so ter- 
rible a situation. But that enthusiasm which in 
difierent ages and different countries, has been 
productive of miracles, supported the republic 
against all the attempts of its enemies. 

2. In the campaign of 1793, the first efforts of 
the combined powers were every where crowned 
with success; but before the close of the year, the 
scales turned in favour of the French. General 
Dumourier projected the conquest of Holland, 
and made himself master of Breda and Gertruy- 
denberg: but general Miranda was compelled by 
the Austrians and Prussians to raise the siege of 
Maestricht: general Dumourier was totally defeat- 
ed on the 18th of March by the Austrians, at 
Neerwinden, and the French were obliged to re- 
tire to St. Amand. ( Dumoiu'ier)being now sus- 
pected by the convention, and accused of treache- 
ry by Aliranda, four commissioners, with Bour- 



LETTERS ON FUENCH HISTOUY. i-MJ 

nonvillc, the minister for the war department, set 
out ii om Paris to the camp, in order to secure the 
lidchty of the army, and the person of tlie |ijenc* 
ral. Dumourier attempted to aUure Hournonvillc 
into liis views; but fm(Hng that to be imi)ossible, 
he erected the standard of revolt, seized the minis- 
ter and commissioners, and dehvered them to the 
Austrian [general, with whom he had entered into 
a treaty. He then communicated to the army his 
intention of marchinp^ to Paris, and restorini>- tlie 
monarch} ; l)ut he found his troops averse to the 
])roposal. The j^en'eral then being convinced of 
liis own danger, galloped off with a small number 
of his associates, who approved his plan; and al- 
though a heavy discharge of musketry was pour- 
ed upon him by the whole column, he arrived in 
safety at the Austrian camp. 

3. His royal highness the duke of York, with a 
strong British force, having joined the combined 
armies, the French were defeated at Famars, and 
their general Dampier was killed. On the 10th 
of July, 1793, the Austrians made themselves mas- 
ters of Conde; and on the i^Oth Valenciennes after 
sustaining a murderous siege olseven weeks, sur- 
rendered to the duke of York. On die 25th of 
August, his royal highness hwested Dunkirk; but 
a formidable armv under general Houchard, mena- 
cing the camp of the besiegers, in concurrence 
with other circumstances, rendered the reduction 
of that place impracticable. After sustaining a se- 
vere loss, the allies raised the siege on the 8th Sep- 
tember, leaving behind all theircannon, and a large 
cjuantity of military stores, in order to avoid being 



>»44 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

surrounded by the republican forces. General 
Houchard was condemned by the revolutionary 
tribunal, and suffered death by the guillotine, on 
a charge of neglecting to improve his advantages; 
it being asserted, that his superiority in numbers 
might have enabled him to capture the whole Brit- 
ish army. About the same time, the Austrian 
generjl, the prince of Saxe Cobourg, was obliged 
to raise the siege of Maubt uge. 

4. In every quarter, the war exhibited a similar 
train of events. During the first part of the cam. 
paign, the confederates were almost invariably suc- 
cessful; but before its conclusion, all their opera- 
tions were marked by defeat and disaster. The 
king of Prussia re-captured Frankfort and Mentz; 
while the prince de Conde, with an army of Aus- 
trians, Prussians, and emigrants, forced the French 
lines at Weissemburg, where the republicans lost 
fifteen thousand of their best troops. But before 
the end of the campaign, several sanguinary ac- 
tions took place, in which the French were victo- 
rious; and the allied armies were obliged to repass 
the Rhine. 

5. While the repubhc was attacked on all sides 
by foreign armies, its existence was endangered 
by domestic enemies, and intestine commotions. 
The large and populous city of Lyons erected the 
standard of revolt against the convention; and the 
inhabitants of Toulon entered into a treaty with 
the British admiral, lord Hood, who took posses- 
sion of the town and shipping in the name of Lew- 
is XVn. But Lyons; after sustaining a siege of 
two months, under an incessant bombardment, 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ,245 

was taken by storm, and almost totally destroyed. 
The revolutionary army then advancing to Tou- 
lon, commenced a most active and murderous 
siege. On the 1 9th of December, a tremendous 
attack was made on the fortifications. The Eng- 
lish redoubt, though defended by three thousand 
men, with twenty pieces of cannon, and several 
mortars, was carried in the space of an hour; and 
the town being incessantly bombarded from noon 
until ten at night, the alhes set tire to the shipping, 
and evacuated the place. The republican navy 
here received a terrible blow. Fifteen ships of the 
line, with a number of frigates, &c. were destroy- 
ed: three ships of the line, with some frigates and 
smaller vessels, were brought away by the allies. 
The unfortunate inhabitants expiated severely theif 
revolt. Great efforts were made by the allies to 
carry away as many as possible; but several thou- 
sands were left to the fury of their countrymen, 
who showed no mercy. 

6. During this tremendous crisis, when foreign 
invasion and domestic revolt threatened the ex- 
tinction of the republic, the revolutionary govern- 
ment of France, the most despotic and tyrannical 
that ever existed in any part of the world, displayed 
an energy that triumphed over all obstacles, car- 
ried dismay to the extremities of Europe, and pre- 
sented a political picture which will ever excite the 
astonishment of the moral philosopher. By ,the 
expedient of assignats, and a decree to enforce 
their circulation, an immense paper currency wi^S 
created; the estates of the emigrants were con§s- 
cated; all property was, by a sweeping. la w^otj^n-' 



J46 LETTEIIS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

precedented despotism, placed in a state of requi- 
sition; and the towns of France were filled with 
forges for the manufacture of arms, and foundaries 
for the casting of cannon. ;, This terrific govern- 
ment, not contented with exercising the most hor- 
rible tyranny over men, proceeded to impieties 
against God, which will astonish and shock the 
most distant posterity. In order to extinguish 
every principle of humanity, and every apprehen- 
sion of futurity amongst the people and the soldie- 
ry, the Christian religion was abolished by a decree 
of the convention: the temples for public worship 
were shut up; and their rich ornaments, with all 
the lands and revenues of the church, were seized 
for the use of the state. By these means, the re- 
public was enabled to make efforts unprecedented 
in history. Above a million of soldiers were le- 
vied, and terror inspired their commanders with a 
desperate courage. Those that were unsuccess- 
ful were denounced to the revolutionary tribunal, 
which condemned them to death on the slightest 
suspicions; and their places Were filled by soldiers 
of fortune, who had risen from the lower classes 
of the army; men who set danger and death at de- 
fiance, and were always ready to hazard their lives 
for preferment, plunder, and glory. 

7. While the armies of France were repelling 
invasion, and repressing revolt, the scaffolds of 
Paris were streaming with blood. The celebrated 
general Custine, whose successes had lately been 
so brilliant, being accused of holding an improper 
correspondence with the enemy, and of neglecting 
several opportunities of throwing succours into 



HETTERB on FRENCH HISTORY. 247 

Valenciennes, was condemned by the revolutionary 
tribunal, and suffered death by the guillotine. 
The next victim was the unfortunate queen Marie 
Antoinette. The act of accusation brought against 
her consisted of several charges, none of which 
were substantiated, and many of them were absurd 
and incredible; but revolutionary vengeance had 
predetermined her death. On the 15th of Oc- 
tober, 1793, she was executed by the guillotine, 
and met her fate with heroic intrepidity, in the 
thirty eighth year of her age. Brissot, and twenty- 
one other members of the convention, were then 
brought to trial, on vague accusations of a con- 
spiracy against the republic. Valleze stabbed 
himself on hearing his sentence: Brissot, and the 
twentv others, were executed on the 30th of Octo- 
ber. The in* riguing and profligate duke of Orleans 
was next brought to the scaffold, being accused 
of aspiring to the sovereignty. The charge was 
supported only by probability, without proof; but 
the revolutionary tribunal condemned him to the 
guillotine. He was executed on the 6th of No- 
vember, amidst the insults and reproaches of the 
populace; and the firmness which he displayed at 
his death, formed a contrast to the weakness that 
had marked his conduct through life. 

8. During a great part of the following year, 
1794, the system of terror reigned at Paris with 
increasing rigour; and the mutual distrust of the 
tyrants rendered it not less destructive to them- 
selves, than to those who were subject to their 
authority. In the month of March, Hebert, Mo- 
moro, Vincent, and seventeen other members of 



^48 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

this diabolical convention, being impeached l^ 
their colleagues, and tried before the revolutionary 
tribunal, were condemned and executed. 

9. The revolutionary government having reach- 
ed the last stage of tyranny, the members of the 
Pandacinonium of Paris, actuated by mutual jea- 
lousies and suspicions, directed their views towards 
mutual extermination, and successively fell on the 
same scaffolds on which they had immolated so 
many innocent victims. Robespierre, dreading 
the dauntless intrepidity of Danton, Fabre d'Eg- 
lantine, Bazire, and Chabot, four of the most noted 
desperadoes of the convention, caused them and 
several of their adherents to be arrested as conspi- 
rators against the republic All these were con- 
demned after a summary trial; and on the 5th of 
April, they were executed by the guillotine. 

10. The government of France, although nomi- 
nally republican, was now almost entirely vested 
in one man, the tyrant Robespierre, a name that 
can never be mentioned without horror. Never 
was the reign of any despot so terrible. Being 
supported by the Parisian mob, he considered his 
power as above all control, and set no bounds to 
his cruelty. Under his sanguinary administration, 
the prisons of Paris contained, at one time, more 
than seven thousand persons, and a day seldom pas- 
sed without sixty or eighty executions. Amons^st 
the multitudes of victims that were sacrificed to his 
tyranny, the beautiful and accomplished princess 
Elizabeth, sister of the late unfortunate monarch, 
was condemned on the most frivolous charges, and 
perished by the revolutionary axe,: her royal birth 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 249 

being her only crime. She was guillotined the 
last of twenty six persons executed at the same 
time, and met her late with heroic intrepidity and 
calm resignation. In the midst of these inhuman 
butcheries, Robespierre perceiving that the total 
abolition of divine worship was displeasing to the 
people, obtained irom the convention a declara- 
tion that France acknowledged the existence of a 
Deity, and a decree for opening the churches to 
all sects without distinction. Thus did the tyrant 
endeavour to diminish the horror of his cruelty, 
by pretending an attachment to religion. 

11. Paris was now a rendezvous of robbers 
and assassins assembled from all parts of France, 
and paid by the factions which relied on their 
support. In every quarter of the city were estab- 
lished Jacobinical clubs, and revolutionary com- 
mittees, composed of desperadoes immersed in 
crimes; and every thing seemed to indicate the 
subversion of all social order, and the commence- 
ment of a general war of the poor against the rich. 
Robespierre now seemed to aim at the extermina- 
tion of all persons of propertv, and the destruction 
of all the existing authorities, in order to reign 
over a murderous banditti. But the career of this 
tyrannical demagogue was now drawing towards 

its termination. Everv member of the conven- 

•I 

tion began to tremble for his own safety . Tallien, 
Barras, Bourdon, Legendre, Lecointre, Merlin 
de Thionville, and Billaud de Varennes, being 
amongst those who were the most sensible of their 
danger, resolved to prevent their own destruction 
by the death ol the tyrant. Having artfully pre-- 



250 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 

pared the public mind, and taken the most ju- 
dicious measures for diminishing the influence 
of the demagogue over the Parisian popuhice, 
they impeached Robespierre, St. Just, Couthon; 
Henriot, La Valette, and their adherents, of a con- 
spiracy against the convention. Their arrest was 
decreed, and they were conducted to the prison 
of the Luxembourg; but the administrator of the 
pohce being a creature of Robespierre, refused to 
receive them; and a body of jacobins dispersing 
the guards, led them in triumph to the hotel de 
Ville. Henriot was arrested at the committee of 
public safety; but being rescued by an armed 
banditti, he raised his partisans, and took post 
with Robespierre in the hotel de Ville, where they 
pretended to form themselves into a new conven- 
tion, and declared the other members traitors to 
their country. But Robespierre now discovered 
that his reliance on the mob was fallacious. He 
and his companions saw themselves deserted by 
the people; and the deputies of the convention hav- 
ing assembled some of the factions, attacked them 
in the hotel de Ville. Robespierre, convinced that 
his tyrannical career was terminated, shot himself 
in the mouth with a pistol. The ball failed of its 
intended effect, but carried away part of his jaw; 
and he received another wound in his side from one 
of the *'gens d'arme." His brother, the younger 
Robespierre, leaped out of a window, and broke a 
leg and an arm. Le Bas shot himself on the spot; 
and Couthon made an attempt at suicide, by stab- 
bing himself with a knife. But at length they 
were all seized, and dragged before the revolution- 



LETTERS ON FKENCH HISTORY. 251 

ary tribunal. By that tribunal, which had so of- 
ten been the instrument of his tyranny, Robes- 
pierre was sentenced to death, together with his 
associates, in all twenty-one persons; and on the 
28th of July, 1794, they were cxeeuted, amidst 
the loud bursts of public execration. Thus fell a 
monster who, in cruelty, surpassed all the tyrants 
both of ancient and modern times; and whose 
death put an end to what is so emphatically deno- 
minated the reign of terror. 

12. Notwithstanding those internal scenes of 
horror, the exertions of the republic during this 
period were prodigious and almost incredible. In 
the year 1794, France displayed apolitical and 
militar}^ picture, to which no parallel is found in 
the history of any country, whether barbarous or 
civilized. Infidels directed her councils, and des- 
peradoes conducted her armies. The number of 
troops which the republic brought into the field^ 
amounted (to seven hundred and eight}^ thousand./ 
The generals placed between the scaffolds of Paris 
anc the cannon of their enemies, having no alter- 
native between death and victory, immortalized 
their names by their bold enterprises and splendid 
successes; and the warriors of France astonished 
the world by their numbers and their valour. The 
armies of the combined powers scarcely amounted 
to three hundred and sixty thousand men; and the 
French generals availing themselves of the supe- 
riority of their forces, disconcerted, by their bold 
movements, the systematic plans of their enemies. 
The celebrated Pichegru, whose military talents 
had raised him from the rank of a sergeant, to that 



252 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

of a general, having in the preceding year distin- 
guished himself by forcing the Austrians and Prus- 
sians to repass the Rhine, was appointed by the 
convention to the command of tlie army in Flan- 
ders. Military operations commenced with extra- 
ordinary vigour. The emperor Francis II. took 
the field at the head of the grand army of the con- 
federates, and being joined by the duke of York, 
a most active scene of hostilities was opened. Se- 
veral obstinate and bloody actions took place with 
various success; but at length the French generals 
Pichegru and Jourdan pouring a tremendous force 
on the allies, made themselves masters of the whole 
of the Netherlands, and of a considerable part of 
Germany, on the western side of the Rhine. 

13. During these transactions, the province of 
La Vendee erected the standard of revolt against 
the convention. The insurgents assuming the ti- 
tle of the royal and Catholic army, made a despe- 
rate resistance against the republican forces that 
poured m upon them from different quarters; but 
at length they were overpowered; and the revolt of 
La Vendee ended in the desolation of that fertile 
provinces , 

14. The campaign of 1794 closed with th^ most 
signal successes on the part of the republic, and 
that of the succeeding year effected an important 
change in the political aspect of Europe. Its com- 
mencement was marked by the conquest of Hol- 
land, which within the space of ten days was be- 
gun and completed. On the 10th of January, the 
Waal being frozen, general Pichegru passed over 
on the ice with his whole army. A general at- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 253 

tack was made on the allies, who being defeated 
at every point, and driven from all their positions, 
were obliged to retire, and suffered excessive hard- 
ships from the inclemency of the weather. The 
French advanced through the United Provinces al- 
most without opposition. His serene highness 
the Stadtholder and his family retired to England. 
On the[20th of January^ general Pichegru entered 
Amsterdam, and new-modelled the government 
on the plan of the French republic. In Spain, the 
French arms were equally successful. The re- 
publican generals made themselves masters of the 
greater part of the provinces of Biscay and Cata- 
lonia, and even menaced Madrid. 

15. In the course of this year the coalition sus- 
tained a great loss in the defection of two of its 
members. The king of Prussia, one of the first 
promoters of the war, seeing its object unattaina- 
ble, concluded, on the 5th of April, a treaty of peace 
with the French republic. His example was fol- 
lowed by his catholic majesty, who in consequence 
of the ill success of his arms, entered into a nego- 
tiation w»th the republic; and on the 22d of July, 
a treaty of peace between France and Spain was 
concluded. 

16. On the 9th of June the same year, the dau- 
phin, son of Lewis XVI. died in the prison of the 
Temple, where he had been confined ever since 
the fatal autumn of 1792. His disease was of a 
scrophulous nature, and although it does not ap- 
pear that medical aid was either denied or neglect- 
ed, it is extremely probable that a long and unme- 
rited imprisonment, if it did not occasion, at least 

Z 



254 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

contributed to accelerate his death. The fatal 
shade that enveloped the existence and the end of 
this unfortunate young prince, cannot be contem- 
plated without exciting reflections painful to hu- 
manity. The princess his sister, the only remain- 
ing child of the late king and queen, and now 
duchess of Angouleme, was soon after liberated, 
being exchanged for the deputies delivered to the 
Austrians by Dumourier and two other prisoners 
of distinction. On the death of the dauphin, Lew- 
is Stanislaus Xavier, count de Provence, eldest 
brother of the late unfortunate monarch, took the 
title of Lewis XVIIL An alteration also took 
place in the form of the republican government, 
the executive authory being invested in a directo- 
ry, consisting of five persons. 

17. The campaign of 1796 opened in the be- 
ginning of April; and the celebrated Napoleon 
Bonaparte being appointed to the command of the 
army in Italy, now first began to come into no- 
tice. The rapid victories of the republicans un- 
der that able general terminated in less than six 
weeks the war with Sardinia; and by a treaty of 
peace, Savoy and part of Piedmont were ceded to 
France. Bonaparte following up his success, de- 
feated the Austrians at the bridge of Lodi, after 
which he took possession of Milan, and having 
made himself master ofLombardy, laid siege to 
the strong town of Mantua. 

18, The campaign in Germany exhibited a 
scene of activity that attracted the attention of Eu- 
rope. T he French general, Jourdan, after gaining 
considerable advantages over the Austrians, ad- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 255 

vanced in the beginning of June with the army of 
the Sambre and Meuse into the heart of the em- 
pire. About the same time another army under 
general Moreau passed the Rhine at Strasburg, 
took the fort of Kehl, an important post on the 
opposite bank of the river, and penetrated through 
Swabia and Bavaria almost to Ratisbon, in the 
view of forming a junction with Jourdan. The 
attempt, however, did not succeed. Both armies 
were obliged to retreat until they repassed the 
Rhine. The situation of Moreau in particular 
was extremely critical, and the retreat of that ce- 
lebrated general was regarded by all parties as one 
of the most masterly exhibitions of military skill 
that took place in the revolutionary war. 

19. In Italy hostilities were carried on with as- 
tonishing activity and vigour, A new army com- 
posed of the finest of the Austrian troops was sent 
into that country to check the rapid career of Bo- 
naparte; and the command was conferred on 
Wurmser, one of the ablest of tlie imperial gene- 
rals. The first operations of this army were 
crowned with success. The French were defeat- 
ed in different actions and compelled to raise the 
siege of Mantua. General Bonaparte, now seeing 
himself closely pressed, evacuated Verona, and 
drawing troops from several of his garrisons, con- 
centrated his forces. This being effected, he com- 
menced a most vigorous train of operations, and 
the Austrians being defeated in five bloody con- 
flicts, general Wurmser was obliged to shut him- 
self up with the shattered remains of his army in 
Mantua. His perilous situation induced the court 



256 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

of Vienna to send another army under general Al- 
vinzy to his relief. But the bloody battle of Ar- 
eola, fought on three successive days, 15th, 16th, 
and 17th of November, frustrated the designs of 
the Austrian commander. In this memorable ac- 
tion Bonaparte gained a victory which decided the 
issue of the campaign. Mantua surrendered: the 
pope, the king of Naples, and the other princes of 
Italy were obliged to conclude treaties of peace on 
such terms as the French were pleased to dictate: 
and the North of Italy was formed into the Cisal- 
pine republic. 

20. During these transactions in Europe, the 
French and Batavian republics sustained conside- 
rable losses in the West Indies. The French is- 
lands of Grenada and St. Vincent were captured 
by the British forces; and the Dutch settlements of 
Demarara and Bcrbice met with the same fate. 
The political aspect of Europe now began to exhi- 
bit a great change. A treaty of alliiniee was con- 
cluded between Spain and the French republic; 
and on the 8th of October, the court of Madrid 
declared war against England. 

21. The year' 1797 was ushered in by a new 
train of successes on the part of the French. The 
victorious Bonaparte penetrated into the Tyrol, 
and directed his march towards the imperial capi- 
tal. He was opposed by the archduke Charles, 
and several bloody conflicts took place amidst the 
snows of the Alps. But nothing could arrest the 
progress of Bonaparte, who advanced so rapidly 
towards Vienna as to excite great alarm in that ci- 
ty. At this critical juncture, the imperial court 



LET TKRS OX FftKNC!! HI8T0RY. 257 

commenced a negotiation with the French j^ene- 
ral, and in the month of April, the preliminaries 
of peace were sii^ned at Leoben. The French 
soon after seized on Venice. The defmitive trea- 
ty between France and Austriit being signed on 
the 17th of October, at Campo Forniio, Venice, 
with Istria, Dalmatia, and the dependent islands 
w^ere ceded to the emperor, who in return con- 
firmed the possession of Belgium to France, and 
acknowledged the Cisalj;ine republic. 

22. While the arms of France were successful 
by land, her allies met with great losses by sea. 
A Spanish squadron was defeated on the 14th of 
February by the British admiral Jarvis, and four 
large ships of the line were captured. And on 
the 11th of October, admiral Duncan gained a 
complete victory over the Batavian fluet The 
Dutch lost nuie of their ships, and their admiral, 
De Winter, was taken ])risoner. 

23. In the mean while, great dissensions pre- 
vailed at Paris, between the legislative councils 
and the directory. Kven the directors were divi- 
ded amongst themselves; two of them, Carnot and 
Barthelemi, adhering to the councils. Barras and 
his party, however, were supported by the sol- 
diery, and adopted the most resolute measures. 
On the 4th of September, general Augereau, with 
a body of soldiers, entered the hall of the council 
of five Hundred, and seizing the famous general 
Pichegru, the president, with his own hands, or- 
dered him and eighteen otlicrs of the anti-directo- 
rial party, to be committed to the Temple prison. 
The directors Carnot and Barthelemi were impli- 

z 2 



258 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

cated in the fate of their friends in the councils. 
Carnot made his escape in the tumult: the others 
were transported to Cayenne. Pichegru, Barthe- 
lemi, and some of the others, found means to es- 
cape from that place of exile, and returned to 
Europe. 

24. In the commencement of the year 1798, a 
new revolution took place in Italy. A tumult 
having happened at Rome, in which a French ge- 
neral was killed, the republican army, command- 
ed by Berthier, entered that capital; and on the 
15th of February, having abolished the papal gov- 
ernment, established a commonwealth under the 
designation of the Roman republic. The pope, 
Pius VI. was made prisoner, and carried to Va- 
lence in France, where he died on the 1 9th oi Au. 
gust the following year. Soon after this revolu- 
tion at Rome, the French made themselves mas- 
ters of Switzerland. 

25. The French government being now freed 
from the continental war, projected new schemes 
of ambition and conquest, in order to give employ- 
ment to the armies, and afford them opportunities 
of acquiring riches by plunder. The directory 
made immense preparations, of which the invasion 
of Great Britain was the ostensible object. But 
the attack with which this kingdom had long been 
threatened, was now unexpectedly directed against 
Egypt, although no quarrel existed between the 
French republic and the Ottoman Porte. General 
Buonaparte, with about forty thousand men, em- 
barked on board the fleet commanded by admiral 
Brueys, and towards the end of May sailed from 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 259 

Toulon for Egypt. On the 9th of June he arrived 
at Malta, and on the 1 1th made himself master of 
that island, almost without opposition. On the 
1st of July he appeared before Alexandria, and on 
the 5th took that city by assault. On the 21st he 
reached Cairo, and on the 23d that capital was 
stormed and taken. The Mamaluke beys attempt- 
ed to rally, and collected a numerous army in the 
neighbourhood of Cairo. But on the 26th of July, 
their united forces were defeated in the battle of 
the Pyramids, and the French by that victory be- 
came masters of Egypt. 

26. These splendid successes were followed by 
a train of disasters. On the 1st of August, the 
French fleet, although drawn up in a firm and 
compact line of battle, near the shore in the bay of 
Aboukir, and protected in the van by a battery 
planted in a small island, was defeated and almost 
annihilated, by admiral Nelson. The republican 
admiral Brueys was killed: his flag-ship, L'Orient, 
of a hundred and twenty guns, and above a thou- 
sand men, blew up in the action: another ship of 
the line and a frigate were burned; and nine sail 
of the line fell into the hands of the English- Of 
the whole French fleet, only two ships of the line 
and two frigates escaped capture or destruction. 
General Bonaparte, however, remained in posses- 
sion of Egypt, and advanced into Syria, where 
he took Gaza and Jaffa; but on proceeding to 
Acre he received a terrible check. The flotilla 
that was bringing his battering artillery from Alex- 
andria, was captured by an English squadron un- 
der sir Sydney Smith, and the guns were employed 



260 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

in defence of the walls which they were at first in- 
tended to destroy. This disastrous occurrence, 
however, did not deter the French general from 
nriaking an attack upon Acre. But the Turkish 
garrison being encouraged by the example and aid 
of sir Sidney Smith, made a vigorous resistence. 
After a series of desperate attacks and bloody re- 
pulses, Bonaparte at length raised the siege, and 
returned into Egypt. 

27. In the following year, 1799, a scene of ex- 
traordinary activity was displayed in Italy and Ger- 
many. The directory having commenced a war 
with the king of Sardinia, obliged that prince to 
conclude a treaty, by which he ceded Piedmont to 
France; after which he retired into Sardinia. To- 
wards the close of the preceding year, hostilities 
had been renewed between France and Naples; 
and a Neapolitan army took possession of Rome. 
But the French collecting their forces, soon reco- 
vered Rome, defeated the Neapolitans, and on the 
19th of January, made themselves masters of the 
city of Naples. The king and his court retired 
into Sicily. 

28. The unprincipled attack made on Egypt in 
the preceding year, had induced the Ottoman 
Porte to declare war against France. Austria also, 
being encouraged and aided by Russia, recom- 
menced hostilities against the republic. In Ger- 
many, the archduke Charles gained considerable 
advantages over the French under general Jourdan, 
whom he defeated at Stockach. But Italy was the 
grand theatre of action. In the month of March, 
the Austrian general, Kray, twice defeated the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 261 

French in the neighbourhood of Verona. About 
the middle of April, marshal Suwarrow arrived 
with the Russian troops; and from that time the 
operations of the allies in Italy were rapid and un- 
interrupted. Several bloody actions took place, 
in which the Austro-Russian army was generally 
victorious; and notwithstanding the vigorous ef- 
forts of generals Joubert, Macdonald, andMoreau, 
the French were, before the month of August, 
driven out of Lombardy and Piedmont. Naples, 
in the mean while, was the scene of a new revolu- 
tion. By the exertions of cardinal Ruffo, at the 
head of an army of Calabrians, the capital was re- 
covered on the 20ih of June; and the surrender of 
Rome soon after to the Neapolitans, aided by the 
English completed the expulsion of the French 
from Italy, Genoa and a small portion of its terri- 
tory excepted. On the 25th of August, a bloody 
conflict took place at Novi, between the French 
and the Austro Russian army. The French were 
defeated, and lost more than ten thousand men; 
but the allies purchased their victory with a loss 
nearly equal. 

29. Marshal Suwarrow now proceeded to Switz- 
erland, to join the Austrian general Hotze, and 
drive the French out of that country. But the 
military genius of general Massena disconcerted 
his plans. That distinguished commander, in a 
series of obstinate and sans:uinary actions, which 
continued four days, between the i 4th and 19th 
of September, repeatedly defeated the Austrian 
and Russian armies, under generals Hotze and 
Korsakow, and forced marshal Suwarrow to retire 



262 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

towards the Tyrol, with the loss of his baggage, 
most of his artillery, and a great number of pri- 
soners. He eontinued his retreat into Germany 
over mountains covered with snow, and by roads 
almost impassable, by which he sustained as much 
loss as if he had suffered a total defeat; and his dis- 
asters occasioned the recal of the Russian forces. 

30. During these transactions the duke of 
York landed in Holland, with an army of thirty 
thousand British troops, and was joined by seven- 
teen thousand Russians in British pay. His first 
operations were crowned with success; and his 
royal highness, after being victorious in a hard 
fought action, on the 2d of October took possession 
of Alkmaar. But after these advantages, a combi- 
nation of insurmountable difficulties rendered all 
further progress impossible; and the duke in con- 
junction with admiral Mitchel, after having con- 
cluded an armistice with the French general Brune, 
evacuated Holland. But twelve Dutch ships of 
war, and thirteen Indiamen, had, on the arrival 
of the English, surrendered to admiral Mitchel, 
for the use of the stadtholder — a circumstance 
which almost annihilated the power of the Gallo- 
Batavian republic. 

31. Towards the close of the year, a new revo- 
lution took place in the government of France. 
General Bonaparte, having found means to elude 
the vigilance of the British cruisers, returned from 
Egypt, and by the aid of the military and the 
council of ancients, overturned the directory. On 
the 10th of November the councils passed a decree 
appointing a consular government, consisting of 



LETTEKS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 263 

three persons, — the abbe Sieyes, Napoleon Bo- 
naparte, and Roger Ducos. Bonaparte was con- 
stituted first consul; and in him was vested the 
whole executive power of the republic. 

32. The campaign of 1800 was not less active 
and bloody than that of the preceding year. On 
the 9th of April a general action took place be- 
tween the French army, commanded by general 
Massena, and that of the Austrians under general 
Melas. After a most sanguinary conflict, Mas- 
sena was defeated, and obliged to shut himself up 
with his army in Genoa, where he was immediately 
blockaded by the Austrians on the land side, and 
on that of the sea by an English fleet. 

33. But these disasters of the French in Italy 
were counterbalanced by their successes in Ger- 
many. Their army, under general Moreau, pas- 
sed the Rhine at different points, and forced, with 
a terrible slaughter, the Austrian position at Stock- 
ach, occupied by prince Joseph of Lorrain, who 
was obliged to fall back upon Moskirch. Mar- 
shal Kray was then attacked by the main body of 
the French army under general Moreau. The 
conflict was extremely sanguinary: Moreau made 
his attacks with the greatest impetuosity, bringing 
up fresh columns in succession, and sacrificing 
numbers of men on every part of the Austrian line. 
Marshal Kray, however, maintained his position, 
until he was joined by the archduke Ferdinand, 
Avhose presence greatly animated the troops. The 
next morning marshal Kray began to retreat, and, 
having retired to Moskirch, effected a junction 
with prince Joseph of Lorrain. In this position 



264 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the Aiistrians were again attacked by general Mo- 
reau with his whole concentrated force. But the 
French, although many impetuous attacks were 
made by their infantry, under the heavy fire of the 
Austrian artillery, and exposed to repeated charges 
of cavalry, were unable to make any considerable 
impression, and at night both armies retired from 
the field with very great loss. Marshal Kray, 
however, recommenced his retreat, and was closely 
followed by Moreau. Near Biberach, the Aus- 
trians were again attacked, and forced to retire to 
Ulm. 

34. During these transactions in Germany, a 
magnificent scene of war was opened in Italy. — 
During the months of April and May, general 
Massena was closely besieged in Genoa. The Aus- 
trians made many des]>erate but inffectual assaults 
on the city; and the French often made vigorous 
sorties. But the aspect of military aftliirs was soon 
changed in that quarter. The first consul of France 
put himself at the head of an army assembled at 
Dijon, and commenced his march for Italy. His 
first division, under marshal Lasnes, left Lausanne 
on the 13th of May, crossed the high mountain of 
St Bernard, and reached i\osta, after a march of 
eighty miles, performed in three days, although a 
great part of the way w;;is over the Alps. Napo- 
leon followed with the main body of his army, con- 
sisting of forty-seven thousand men, and having 
entered Milan, was joined by general Moncey, 
with eighteen thousand troops from Switzerland. 
The first consul now commenced a series of rapid 
and successful operations, and soon became mas- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 265 

ter of Lodi, Brescia, Placentia, Cremona, and 
Pavia. In the mean while the Austrian general 
Melas had sent pressing orders to general Ott to 
raise the siege of Genoa, and march towards the 
Po. These orders, arriving at the moment when 
general Massena proposed a capitulation, the 
terms were soon agreed on: the French were left 
at liberty to depart, with their arms, artillery, &c. 
to join the other armies and recommence hostili- 
ties. The memorable battle of Mareneo which 
took place on the 14th of June, 1800, decided the 
isbue of the Italian campaign. The French were 
commanded by the first consul, the Austrians by 
general Melas; and at three in the afternoon, vic- 
tory seemed to have already declared in favour of 
the latter. After twelve successive charges, the 
Austrian cavalry had routed the whole French 
line, which retired in disorder to the village of St. 
Julian, where general Dessaix was posted with a 
corps de reserve. Dessaix rallied the flying troops 
led them on in full charge and fell gloriously at their 
head. At that critical moment, Napoleon rushed 
into the midst of the squadron, and leading them on, 
decided the victory. The Austrians lost about nine 
thousand men, exclusive of two hundred and fifty 
officers. On the second day after the battle, an ar- 
mistice was agreed on between general Melas and 
the first consul. 

35. The campaign in Germany was equally suc- 
cessful on the side of the French. The Austrians 
after a series of bloody conflicts with the army of 
ge:'neral Moreau , retreated until they had passed 
the Inn. Moreau, rapidly advancing, entered Ba- 
A a 



26S LETTERS ©N FRENCH HISTORY 

varia, and took posbession of Munich and Ratis- 
bon. In these circumstances, an armistice was 
concluded, and preliminaries of peace were agreed 
on. But the emperor refusing to ratiiy the treaty 
the French and Imperial armies, both strongly re- 
inforced, the former by conscripts from France 
the latter by new levies from Bohemia, Moravia, 
Hungary, and Croatia, recommenced hostilities. 
The battle of Hohenlinden was not of less im- 
portance to France than that of Marengo. I'he 
Austrians were defeated with a terrible carnage, 
and the whole centre of their army was destroyed 
or dispersed. This victory decided the issue of the 
campaign, and in a great measure that of the war. 
Moreau followed up his success with extraordinary 
activity and vigour. Advancing with astonishing 
rapidity, he came up with the remains of the Aus- 
trian army successively at different places, and de- 
feated them in several actions, in one of which 
prince Lichtenstein and his whole staff were made 
prisoners. The loss of the Austrians in men, ar- 
tillery, &c. during this campaign, was almost incre- 
dible. The French already menaced Vienna; and 
the inhabitants of that capital expected daily to see 
Moreau at its gates In these circumstances, the 
two hostile powers concluded an armistice, which 
was succeeded, in the following year, by a treaty 
of peace. 

36. In Egypt, also, the French arms were victo- 
rious. A Turkish army of eighty thousand men, 
commanded by the grand vizier, had advanced to 
El- Arish. Here general Kleber, \^ ho was now at 
the head of the French army, concluded on tlie 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 26f 

24th of January a treaty with the vizier. By that 
convention, the French were permitted to evacuate 
Egypt, with their arms, artillery, &c. but as Great 
Britain was mistress of the seas, they could not 
return to Europe without her permission. The 
cabinet of St. James's, seeing that the tendency of ~ 
this treaty was to remove the French army from 
Ei^ypt, and to place it in Italy to act against the 
Austrians, refused its ratification. In consequence 
of this refusal, hostilities were suddenly renewed. 
General Kleber made an impetuous attack on the 
army of the grand vizier, and more than ten thou- 
sand Turks fell in the battle. After this bloody 
defeat the grand vizier retreated into Syria, and 
left the French in the uncontrolled possession of 
Egypt. But in the midst of his triumphs, general 
Kieber, while walking on the terrace of his garden 
at Cairo, on the 14th of June, was assassinated by 
a desperate fanatic. And it may be regarded as a 
remarkable coincidence, that he received the fatal 
stroke on the same day, and about the same hour, 
in which his former companion in arms, general 
Dessaix, fell in battle at Marengo. 

37. The naval campaign was distinguished by 
the reduction of Malta, which had been blockaded 
two years by the British fleets, and was compelled 
by famine alone to surrender. On the 5th of Sep- 
tember, 1800, the capitulation was signed, and 
Great Britain obtained possession of that celebrated 
island, which became afterwards the ostensible 
cause of events of unparallelled magnitude. 

38. On the 9th of February, 1801, a treaty of 
peace between France and Austria w^as concluded 



'68 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

at Luneviile, on the basis of that of Campo Formio; 
and the Rhine, from Switzerland to Holland, was 
made the^common boundary of the French repub- 
lic and the GermEm empire. 

39. Great Britain was now the only enemy with 
which France had to contend; and Egypt was the 
theatre of the war. An armament was sent from 
England to expel the French from that country. 
The land forces consisted of sixteen thousand men, 
under the command of general sir Ralph Aber- 
crombie, with whom a body of troops from India 
was to co-operate by tlie way of the Red Sea. On 
the 1st of March the British fleet, under admiral 
lord Keith, arrived oii the coast of Egypt, and 
anchored in the bay of Aboukir. On the 7th the 
troops effected their landing, under a heavy fire 
of grape-shot, poured upon them by the enemy. 
On the 12th they advanced within sight of the 
French army, commanded by general Menou 
and advantageously posted on a ridge between the 
oanal of Alexandria and the sea. A partial action 
took place on the following day, in which the En- 
glish had the advantage; and on the 21st of March 
was fought the memoriible battle of Alexandria, at 
the distance of about three miles from that city. 
The conflict was obstinate and bloody, but at length 
the French were defeated; their celebrated regi- 
ment of invincibles was nearly annihilated, and its 
standard was taken. But the British general, sir 
Ralph Abercrombie, received a mortal vvound in 
the thigh, of which he died, a week after the batde, 
deeply regretted by his army. The command then 
devolved on general Hutchinson, who completed 



I.EtTETlS ON FRENCH HISTORY. ^69 

the work which his predecessor had begun. The 
British army marched directly to Cairo, and being 
joined by the grand vizier, the whole combined 
force invested that city, which on the 27th of June 
capitulated, on the condition that the troops ( oni- 
posing the garrison, with all their private property, 
should be conveyed by the allied powers to the 
nearest French ports in the Mediterranean. On 
the 27th of August the combined British and Ot- 
toman armies commenced the siege of Alexandria. 
General Menou, seeing the impossibility of making 
an effectual resistance, while cut off from all com- 
munication with Europe, agreed, on the 1st of 
September, to surrender the city on the conditions 
of the capitulation of Cairo, and the whole of the 
French troops evacuated Egypt. 

40. The expulsion of the French from that 
country terminated the war. Preliminaries of 
peace between all the belligerent powers were 
signed on the 1st of October, at London; and on 
the 25th of March, 1802, the definitive treaties 
were concluded at Amiens. Great Britain agreed 
to restore all the settlements taken from France 
and her allies, except Trinidad and Ceylon. The 
Cape of Good Hope was to remain a free port; 
Malta was to be restored to the knights; and the 
French republic renounced all pretensions on the 
territories of Rome and Naples. Thus ended the 
revolutionary war, the most important contest that 
Europe had ever witnessed since the establishment 
of her existing governments. 

4 1 . During the short season of general tranquiU 
lity, the first consul of France displayed in his 

A a 2 



aro JLETTEKS ©N FRENCH HISTOKY. 

political schemes all the activity that had charac 
terised his military genius. He obtained from the 
consulta of the Cisalpine republic a decree con- 
ferring upon him the office of president; and the 
formation of a new constitution, which vested in 
his person not only the whole executive power, but 
almost the whole legislative authority. By similar 
means, he also rendered Switzerland dependant on 
his power, and subservient to his will. In France, 
he increased his popularity by restoring the Ca- 
tholic religion, and establishing liberty of consci- 
ence; and confirmed his authority, by procuring 
himself to be constituted chief consul for life, with 
the power of nominating his successor. In the 
West Indies, he attempted the reduction of the re- 
volted negroes of St. Domingo; but the renewal 
of the war between France and Great Britain pre- 
vented its accomplishment. 

42, The treaty of Amiens had inspired all Eu- 
rope with the hopes of enjoying a happy tranquil- 
lity during a long period of time; but the prospect 
was illusory; and the restrictions imposed on Bri- 
tish commerce by the first consul of France, too 
plainly indicated that peace would be only of a 
short continuance. But a still more decided sub- 
ject of quarrel arose. (Great Britain had, in strict 
conformity with the treaty of Amiens, restored all 
her conquests, with the single exception of Mal- 
tajbut unforeseen circumstances had arisen, which 
rendered the restoration of that island to the knightS; 
incompatible with the interests of Great Britain^ 
without some previous arrangements, as such 'a 
measure wo.u^d have been the same thing, in effect, 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 271 

as delivering it up to the French republic. But 
the first consul peremptorily required its imme- 
diate evacuation by the English; accompanying 
his demand by complaints against the permission 
granted to the French princes, bishops, and other 
emigrants to reside in England, as well as on se- 
veral other subjects. These circumstances occa- 
sioned a long train of negotiations: but the chief 
consul refusing to suffer Great Britain to retain, 
on any conditions, the possession of Malta, that is-, 
land became the box of Pandora to Europe. Ne- 
ver before did an insulated rock, less than sixty 
miles in circumference, occasion so many calami- 
ties, or give rise to events of such importance and 
magnitude. 

43. The spring of the year 1803 stands memo- 
rably distinguished in history, by the renewal of 
the war between France and Great Britain; in 
which all the powers of Europe became afterwards 
involved, anc which ended in the extermination of 
the revolutionary hydra. The first consul imme- 
diately ordered the arrest and detention of all Bri- 
tish subjects in the countries under his govern- 
ment or influence, a measure unprecedented in the 
history of modern Europe. At the same time, 
gei\eral Mortier, with a French army, seized on 
Hanover; and by occupying the banks of the Elbe 
and the Weser, excluded the English from the 
Commerce of a great part of Germany. In conse- 
quence of these proceedings, the British govern- 
ment sent a fleet to blockade the mouths of those 
rivers^ 

44*. But the invasion of England was avowedly 



272 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the grand object of the first consul. The most 
formidable preparations were made for that pur- 
pose in the ports of the French and Batavian re- 
publics; and a numerous flotilla was assembled at 
Boulogne, the general rendezvous of the troops 
destined for that great enterprise; while the Bri- 
tish government adopted the most judicious mea- 
sures for repelling the threatened attack. The 
whole year 1803 was thus spent in preparing for 
the contest; while the other powers of Europe, 
like the gods of Homer, looked on in anxious ex- 
pectation of the result. 

45. In the beginning of the year 1804, the pre- 
parations for invasion on one side, and resistance 
on the other, were completed. France and Great 
Britain presented to each other a formidable front; 
but no military or naval transaction of importance 
took place. All the ports of the French and Bata- 
vian republics being closely blockaded by the 
British fleets, and the flotillas designed for the 
threatened invasion not daring to venture beyond 
the reach of their batteries, the forces of the belli- 
gerents could not come into contact. 

46. Scenesof great importance, however, open- 
ed in France. In the month of February, a con- 
spiracy was formed against the first consul. At 
the head of this affair, w^ere the celebrated s:eneral 
Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal. Several others 
also were implicated; and the famous general Mo. 
reau was accused of entering into the views of the 
conspirators. But the plot being discovered, and 
its chiefs arrested, Napoleon seized this favorable 
opportunity of accomplishing the destruction of a 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 2K 

prince of the house of Bourbon, whose abilities 
and enterprising spirit he had long dreaded. This 
^vasthe unfortunate due d'Enghien, who was seiz- 
ed on the(15th of March, Jin a neutral territory, by 
a party of French cav^alry; and being hurried away 
to Paris, was tried in the night by a military tribu- 
nal, and condemned on vague and unsubstantiated 
charges of carrying on a correspondence with the 
enemies of the French republic. He was shot im- 
mediately after his condemnation; and, through 
the whole of this trying scene, although grerdly 
exhausted by fatigue and want of rest, during the 
space of six days, he displayed a diiuntless forti- 
tude, and perfect composure of mind. Of the 
conspirators arrested at Paris, Georges and some 
others were executed: rPichegru died in prison, but 
in what manner is uncertain: several were pardon- 
ed; and Moreau was permitted to retire to America. 
47. Soon after these events, a great and import- 
ant revolution took place in the government of 
France. On the 18th of May, the first consul, 
Napoleon Bonaparte, was by a decree of the tribu- 
nate, and an *'Organicsenatus consultum," consti- 
tuted emperor of the French; and the imperial dig- 
nity was declared hereditarv in his familv. In or- 
der to equal, or rather surpass the glory of Charle- 
magne, the pope was brought from Rome to per- 
form the ceremony of his coronation. On the 2d 
of December, 1804, he was anointed and crown- 
ed in the cathedral of Notre Dame, by Pius VII.; 
and his consort was at the same time inaugurated, 
and proclaimed empress. Thus did this great as- 
pirer succeed in raising himself to an elevation 



Z74> LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

which neither C^sar nor Cromwell could ascend^ 
an ' thus vanished every shadow of republicanism 
in France, after himdreds of thousands of French- 
men had fought and fallen for its establishment. 

You have now, my dear Sir seen pass in review^ 
a series of events which constitute a singular and 
tremendous period in the history of France, and 
indeed of the world. The distinguishing charac- 
teristic of the French revolution is, that ni every 
stage of its progress it baffled all political conjec- 
ture, and all tactical calculations, Posteritv will 
look back with interest and amazement on its rise, 
its progress, and its termination; and statesman in 
future ages will examine its causes, as well as con- 
template its consequences. This terrible crisis, 
which wrecked in seas of blood all former institu- 
tions, shook Europe to its centre, and exhibited 
every virtue, every vice, every passion, every talent 
— in fine, every thing in the French nation carried 
to an unprecedented extreme; and marked with an 
impression of grandeur, of which the most celebra- 
ted periods of Greek and Roman history afford few 
examples, will furnish ample materials for contem- 
plation to the politician and the philosopher. Hu- 
manity will shudder at the crimes of the tyrants of 
France; but the historic page will commemorate 
the exertions of her warriors, and the virtues of 
her victims; illustrious patterns of religion, of loy- 
alty , of conjugal affection, and filial piety. Future 
innovators will here find an awful lesson, and na- 
tions will contemplate with horror that dreadful 
delusion which sacrifices to a phantom the happi- 
ness of a whole generation; while princes and 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 276 

courts will learn to observe the progress, and re- 
spect the dictates of public opinion. 

With unfeigned respect and esteem, I have the 
honour to be, 

Dear Sir, Your's, &c. 

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1.'— What powers were leagued against France.^ 

2. — What French general deserted.^ 

S. — When did the duke of York take Valenciennes? 

4 ; ~ 

5.-— In what year did Toulon surrender to the allie-? 

6. — By what means was the French Republic enabled 
to make so great efforts.'* 

7. — When was the queen of France executed?' 
When was the duke of Orleans executed? 

8. 

9. — When were Danton, Fabre D'Eglantine, &c. exe- 
cuted? 

10. — Under whose government did France now .fall? 

11. — When was llobespierre executed? / ' 

12. — What number of troops did the French bring into 
the field in the year 1794? ' - 
Ho'.v many troops did the allies bring into the field? 

13. — Wliat was the issue of the revolt of La Vendee? 

14. — When did general Pichegru take possession of Am- 
sterdam? J 

15. — In what year did Prussia and Spain conclude trea- 
ties of peace with the French republic? 

16. — When did the dauphin die? ■) c-"^ €/ 

17. — When did Napoleon Bonaparte first come into no- 
tice? ' 

18. — In what year did general Moreau make his celebra- 
ted retreat from Germany? 

19. — When was the battle of Areola fought? 

20.— *When did Spain declare war against Great Britain? 

21. — In what year did the French seize Venice?, 

When was the peace of Campo Formio concluded, 
and between what powers? 

.22. . . 



276 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

23. — When was general Pichegru> &c. transported to 
Cayenne? • 

24. In what yeai was the pope carried as a prisoner in- 
to France? ' v , 

,25. — When did Bonaparte tak6 Alexandria? > 

When did he make himself master of Egypt?^ ^ i 

26. — When was the French fleet destroyed in the bay of 
Aboukir by admiral Nelson?/ *• ^ / ' f- 

27. — In what year did the French take Naples? 

28, — VVhen did cardinal RufFu drive the French frohi Na- 

■ pies? : . ' ' ^ \ I. 

29. — When did general Massena defeat the Austrian and 
Russian armies in Switzerland, and oblige mar- 
shal Suwarrow to retreat into Germany? , V, '} 

30. — In what year did the duke of York undertake an ex- 
pedition into Holland?/ V^ 4^ 

3][,,_When was Bvinaparte made fi'ist consul? , , c \ ' 

32. — When was general Massena defeated, and obliged 
to take refuge in Genoa? >,. .^ 

33.--.Iii what campaign did general Moreau compel mar- 
shal Kray to retire to Ulm? . ■ y 

34.— When was the battle of Marengo? . \' 

What was the loss of the Austrians? ■■. • ;,- 

35. — Who defeated the Austrians at HohenlindeHj and 
threatened Vienna? ; ' , / ^ , 

36. — When was general Kleber assassinated? ' /' ' '. 

37. — When was Slalta taken by the English? 

38. — When was the pea e of Luneville concluded? i\ _ 

39. — In what year, and on what day was the battle of 
Alexandria? ) / ji . 
What British general fell in that action? 

40. — In what year was the peace of Amiens concluded?/ i.c 

4 1 i 

42. — What was the chief cause, or at least the ostensible 
pretext for lenewing the war? 

43. — In what year was the war renewed? 

44. — In what manner was the year 1803 spent? 

45. , },,_— \ . . . , 

46 — When was the due d'Knghien seized, &c. 

What was the end of general Pichegru? 
47. — In what year, &c. was iSapoleon Buonaparte con- 
stituted ernper or of the Fieiich? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 277 



. LETTER XII. 

Comprising a period of eleven years and one month, 
from the commencement of the empire^ ISth of 
May, 1804, to the battle of IVater loo, and the 
complete establishment of the house of Bourbon, 



Sovereigns of France. 


King of Great Britain. 


Napoleon. 
Louis XVIII. 


George HI. 



DEAR SIR, 

A STRIKING picture is delineated by 
Milton, where he introduces the angel exhibiting 
to the primaeval parent of mankind a view of the 
transactions which were to take place amongst his 
posterity. But if the poetical fiction had been 
realized, — if the awful book of fate had been un- 
folded to the first of the human race, — scarcely 
any thing in the mysterious volume would have 
appeared more astonishing, than the events which 
you are now about to contemplate. The tremen- 
dous drama, which has excited alternately the 
hopes and the fears of the existing generation, is 
now closed; but its important scenes, depicted in 
the pages of history, will attract the attention o 
the most distant posterity. A circumstantial de- 
tail of the memorable transactions of this extraor- 
dinary^ period would fill many ponderous volumes. 
All that is necessary, and indeed all that can be 
Bb ■ 



2ir8 LETTERS ON FllENCH IIISTOUY. 

attempted in this historical compendium, is to ex- 
hibit the grand oiithnes of the picture: these \vill 
escape the destructive power of time, vyhen the 
more minute traits shall be obliterated, and the 
faded colouring become uninteresting. 

1. The French republic, like that of ancient 
Rome, being changed into a monarchy resting en- 
tirely on a military basis, its terrible power j^laeed 
in the hands of a man trained from his youth to 
war and bloodshed, became more formidable and 
dangerous by being thus concentrated. At the 
same time, the flames of war began to spread to a 
greater extent, and with more direful havoc. The 
court of Madrid agreed to furnish France with fif- 
teen ships of the line, and twenty-four thousand 
troops; and on the 14th of December, 1804, de- 
clared war against England. 

2. Until this time, the eftbrts of the belligerent 
powers had been displayed only in tremendous 
preparations, and the war had been extremely 
barren in regard to events, but the year 1805 ex- 
hibited a scene of activity, to which no parallel is 
found in the annals of Kurope. On the 21st of 
October, the combined French and Spanish fleets, 
consisting of thirty-three ships of the line, besides 
frigates, corvettes, &c. commanded by admiral 
Villeneuve, was totally defeated oft'Cape Trafalgar, 
by lord Nelson. Of the combined fleets, nineteen 
sail of the line were captured; and this memorable 
defeat nearly annihilated the naval po\>'er of France 
and Spain. But it also terminated the splendid 
career of the British hero; who, being mortally 
wounded in the breast by a musket-ball, fell in the 
moment ofvictory. 



LETTKHS ON FRENCH HlSroUY. "279 

3. But although France was unfortunate in her 
naval enterprises, her successes on the continent 
were astonishing and unprecedented. In the early 
part of the year, the Cisalpine republic had been 
erected into a monarchy, and Napoleon being on 
the 18th 1)1' March proclaimed its sovereign, ac- 
quired the two fold title of emperor of the French 
and kins: of Italy. He immediately annexed the 
Ligurian republic or Genoese territory to the Ita- 
lian kingdom; and this incorporation, with other 
incroachments, raised up against him a formidable 
host of enemies. In order to reduce his exorbi- 
tant power, a stupendous political and military plan 
WU!? formed by the British cabinet; and ^ most of 
the continental powers agreeing to its proposals, 
entered into a confederacy against France. By a 
treaty concluded in the month of April, the com- 
bined powers engaged to bring into the field, a 
forceof five hundred thousand men; of these Aus- 
tria was to furnish three hundred and twenty thou- 
sand; Russia, one hundred and fifteen thousand; 
and Naples, Sweden, Hanover, &c. were to supply 
the remaining sixty-five thousand; Great Britain 
was to allow subsidies to the allied armies, at the 
rate of 12/. 10^. per man. 

4. France having at this time a disposable force 
of five hundred thousand effective troops, in the 
most perfect state of discipline, and commanded 
by generals of consummate abilities, presented a 
formidable front to the continental confederacy. 
The summer was spent in preparations; and in 
the beginning of September the armies were put 
in motion, 'Fhe French emperor left Paris on the 



*^80 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

i24th of September; and the diiFerent divisions of 
the grand army under Murat, duke of Berg, and 
the marshals Bernadotte, Marmont, Lasnes, Ney, 
Soult, and Davoust, had all passed the Rhine be- 
fore the end of the month. The Austrians in the 
mean while had advanced in order to check their 
progress; but an unexpected movement of the 
French seems to have decided the issue of the cam- 
paign. Marshals Bernadotte and Marmont with 
a corps of sixty thousand men, pushed through 
the neutral territory of Anspach, passed the Da- 
nube, and entered Bavaria. Napoleon having at 
the same time passed that river at Donavert with 
the main body of the army, formed a junction with 
Bernadotte, M'ho On the following day, 11th of 
October, took possession of Munich. By these 
movements the French gained a position in the rear 
of the Austrian armies, and cut off their commu- 
nication with Vienna. And on the 20th of Octo- 
ber general Mack, who was in Ulm, with thirty- 
four thousand men, surrendered the place and his 
troops to the French emperor, in a manner ex- 
tremely mysterious. This was a severe stroke to 
the Austrians; but the reasons which induced ge- 
neral Mack to take so singular a step have never 
been satisfactorily explained. 

5. The long expected Russians began at length 
to make their appearance, and the first division of 
their army joined the Austrians near the river Inn. 
But on the advance of the French, the Austro-Rus- 
sian army not being sufficiently strong to wait the 
attack, abandoned its position, and retired towards 
Moravia. On the 7th of November, the emperor 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 281 

Francis II. set out for Olmutz, to take the com- 
mand of his army; and Vienna surrendered by 
capitulation to the French. 

6. Italy in the mean while was also a theatre of 
contest. The Austrian army in that quarter was 
commanded by the archduke Charles, and that of 
the French by general Massena. On the 12th of 
November, a sanguinary action took place near 
the banks of the Tagliamento; but the victory re- 
mained undecided. This action closed the Italian 
campaign. The critical state of affairs in Germany 
determined the archduke to evacuate Italy; and 
he effected his retreat into Austria with great skill 
and celerity, although too late to preserve the ca«f 
pital. 

7. The grand army commanded by the empe- 
ror Alexander in person, arrived at last in Mora- 
via. And their armies having formed a junction, 
the two emperors of Russia and Germany com- 
menced their operations. On the 27th of Novem- 
ber their combined forces were concentrated at Ol- 
mutz, and on the 30th they advanced to Austerlitz, 
where the grand contest was decided. 

8. The 2d of December 1805 was the eventful 
day which laid the continent of Europe for some 
years at the feet of the French emperor. The two 
hostile armies were nearly equal in number, the 
French having a hundred thousand men in the 
field, and the confederates about a hundred and 
five thousand, of whom eighty thousand were Rus- 
sians. At the moment of sun -rise Napoleon gave 
orders for the attack; and at one in the afternoon 
the victory was decided in his favour. The Frencli 

B b 2 



Wl LETTERS ON FRENCH HI9TOKY. 

took a hundred and fifty pieces of cannon and for- 
ty-five standards. According to the official reports 
published at Paris, above eighteen thousand Rus* 
siansand Austrians vi^ere left dead on the field, and 
twenty thousand were made prisoners. But, as is 
commonly the case, the accounts published by the 
opposite parties disagree, both with respect to the 
numbers brought into the field, and the extent of 
their loss. The consequences, however, make it 
plainly appear that the victory was completely de- 
cisive on the side of the French. On the third 
day after the battle, the two emperors, Napoleon 
and Francis had an interview, and concluded an 
armistice, in which the emperor of Russia was 
afterwards included, on condition that he should 
withdraw his forces and evacuate Germany and 
Austrian Poland! This armistice was followed by 
-a peace between France and Austria, which was 
concluded at Presburg on the 26th of December* 
By this treaty Austria ceded the city of Venice, 
with all the Venetian territory and islands to the 
Italian kingdom. Thus ended this memorable 
contest, which in the grandeur of its plan, the mag- 
nitude of its events, and the rapidity of its decision, 
stands without any parallel in the annals of the 
world. 

9. These extraordinary events produced imporr 
^nt changes in the political system of the conti- 
nent. The French emperor had no sooner con- 
cluded the treaty of peace with Austria, than he 
issued on the following day a decree of deposition 
against the king of Naples, and conferred the 
iMTown on his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte. In 



LETTERS ON FRKNCH mSTORY. %^?5 

the beginning of the year 1806 Joseph with a 
French army marched to Naples, and seized on 
that kingdom. 

10. In the month of June the same year, Na- 
polean changed the Batavian repubUc into a mo- 
narchy, and gave its crown to his brother Louis, 
whom, notwithstanding, he afterwards compelled 
to abdicate. This year was also formed that union 
of several of the German princes, denominated the 
confederation of the Rhine, of which the French 
emperor was declared the protector. And in 
consequence of this arrangement, which dissolved 
the Germanic constitution, Francis II. resigned 
his office of emperor of Germany, and assumed 
the title of emperor of Austria. 

11. The period, my dear Sir, which is here 
presented to your inspection, may justly be stiled 
the age of wonders. In the preceding year the 
court of Berlin rejected the earnest and repeated 
solicitations of Austria and Russia to join the grand 
continental confederacy, when the Prussian pow- 
er, would, almost beyond the possibility of doubt, 
have turned the scale in its favour. But, within 
the space of little more than twelve months, Prus* 
sia undertook to contend single-handed with the 
gigantic power of France. The king of Prussia 
insisted that all the French troops should be with- 
drawn from the territories of the Rhenish confe- 
deration: with this requisition Napoleon refused to 
comply. In the beginning of October his Prus- 
sian majesty and the French emperor took the 
field, and immediately commenced hostilities Se- 
veral partial actions took place; in one of which 



Jat lETTKUS ON VllENCH HTSTOKY. 

prince Louis of Prutisia ItU gloriously at the head 
ot his division. 

12. This disaster, however, was only the pre- 
hide to the most decisive defeat that the Prussians 
had ever exix^rienced since the foundation of their 
monarchy. On the 13th ot October, the king of 
Piussia havifig concentrated his forces, formed his 
whole arn\> in order of battle near Auerstadi. On 
the afternoon of the same day, the emperor of the 
French came to Jena and ivconnoitred the Prus- 
sian position. The tremendous battle of Jena 
took place the next morning, 1-lth of Octobcj-r 
18(>6. 'I'he Prussian arm} consisted of a hundred 
and twenty-six thousand of the dnest troops in the 
world, and that of the French was at least equal in 
number. The conflict was sanguinary in the ex- 
treme. Two hundred and fd'ty thousand men, 
with more than seven hundred pieces of cannon 
scattered death in every direction, and exhibited 
one of the most aw fid scenes that imagination can 
paint. 'I'he residt \vas decisive in favour of Na- 
poleon. The loss o( the Prussians amounted to 
about twenty thousand killcil and wounded, and 
thirty thousand prisoners, amongst whom were 
twenty generals, besides three hundred pieces of 
artillery. The duke of Brunswick, >\ho had for- 
merly been the compimion in arms of Frederic the 
Great, and acquired a distinguished reputation in 
the seven years' war, was mortally wounded and 
died soon after at Altona. The king of Prussia 
retired to Koningsberg with a vie\\ of collecting 
another army. 

13. Alter this signal victory, tlie French pusli^ 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 285 

ed forward into Prussia without losing a moment 
of lime. The strong fortress of Magdeburg sur- 
rendered; the important city of Lubeck was taken 
by assault, and General Blucher, with nine thou- 
sand men, was obliged to capitulate, after a great 
part of his troops had been killed or made prison- 
ers. The French then took possession of Berlin: 
the different corps of the Prussian army succes- 
sively surrendered almost without resistance. Ne- 
ver had Europe seen conquests so rapid. With- 
in the short space of five weeks, from the 9th of 
October to the 12th of November, the French had, 
if their accounts can be credited, not less than a 
hundred and forty thousand prisoners, two hun- 
dred and fifty standards, and four thousand eight 
hundred pieces of artillery. 

14. The French continuing to advance with 
rapidity, passed the Oder, took all the towns and 
fortresses in their route, and at length approached 
the Vistula. These events excited the emperor 
Alexander to make a grand effort for the protection 
of his dominions. A numerous and formidable 
force was collected from every part of his exten- 
sive empire; and the Russian army, of which ge- 
neral Beningsen was appointed the commander, 
took a position atPultosk. Here it was attacked 
on the 26th of December by the French emperor. 
After an obstinate and sanguinary conflict, the 
French were repulsed, but the loss on each side 
was nearly equal. 

15. Such was the state of affairs at the close of 
the year 1 806. The hostile armies did not remain 
long inactive. The battle of Pultosk was hoon 



286 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

followed by that of Eylau, which commenced on 
the 7th of February 1807, and continued, with 
only a short intermission, until midnight on the 
8th. Of this battle, as well as of that of Pultosk, 
the French and Russian accounts are so contradic- 
tory, as to render it impossible to ascertain the ex- 
tent of their loss; but both agree that the carnage 
was dreadful. Both sides, indeed, claimed the 
victory, but subsequent circumstances showed 
that neither could boast of any important advanta- 
ges. 

16. After this bloody conflict, the grand armies 
of France and Russia remained some time in a 
state of inactivity . But detached corps of the French 
reduced the greatest part of Fomerania. About 
the middle of April, a division of the French army 
laid siege to Dantzic, and on the 28th May, that 
large and opulent city surrendered, after sustain- 
ing a most destructive cannonade and bombard- 
ment. The grand armies in the mean while were 
receiving strong reinforcements. Napoleon, in 
order to concentrate his forces, called in his de- 
tachments. And the emperor of Russia set out 
from Petersburg to his army, while large bodies of 
troops were moving from all parts of the empire 
towards the theatre of the war. 

17. At length the bloody battle of Friedland, 
fought on the 14th of June, 1807) decided the con- 
test. The French emperor, fesolving to attack 
the Russian position, animated his troops by re- 
minding them of the victory of Marengo, of which 
that da}^ was the anniversary. The action began 
a Fittle past five in the evening*, the attacks made 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 28? 

by the French were impetuous and incessant: the 
resistance was obstinate; and the carnage on both 
sides was terrible. At length the desperate con- 
flict terminated in the total defeat of the Russians, 
who are said to have left fifteen thousand dead on 
the field. On the following day marshal Soult, 
with a division of the French army, took posses- 
sion ol Koningsberg; where he found twenty thou- 
sand wounded Russians and Prussians, with a 
large quantity of corn and warlike stores. 

18. The decisive battle of Friedland was fol- 
lowed by an interview between the emperors of 
France and Russia and the king of Prussia; and 
on the 7th of July treaties of peace were conclu- 
ded between the three belligerents. Russia ac- 
knowledged the confederation of the Rhine. Je- 
rome Bonaparte was constituted king of West- 
phalia, and his kingdom, was enlarged by the ces- 
sion of all the Prussian territories to the West of 
the Elbe. Saxony was erected mto a kingdom, 
to which was annexed the citv and territorv of War- 
saw. Dantzic was restored to its ancient inde- 
pendence, but its port as well as those of Prussia, 
w as to be shut against the vessels and trade of Great 
Britain. 

19. The extraordinary and rapid successes of 
the French emperor in the war against Prussia 
and Russia, were productive of great and singu- 
lar effects on the political and commercial system 
of Europe. Having overcome all opposition in 
the north; he found himself at leisure to pursue 
his schemes of aggrandisement in the south; and 
one of these may be considered as a phaeiiomenon 



288 LETTERS OIT FRENCH HISTORY. 

in history/ A French army, under general Junot, 
having marched through Spain into Portugal, and 
approached the capital, the court of Lisbon resolv- 
ed on a migration to the southern hemisphere. 
On the 29th of November, 1807, when the French 
were already arrived in the vicinity of Lisbon, and 
about to enter the city, the Portuguese fleet, hav- 
ing on board the queen, the prince of Brazil, and 
the whole royal family of Braganza, with a num- 
ber of persons attached to its fortunes, sailed out 
of the Tagus; and on the 18th of January the fol- 
lowing year arrived at Rio de Janeiro, which was 
made the seat of the government. The French 
entered Lisbon without opposition, and conse- 
quently became masters of Portugal. 

20. In the following mondi of February, 1808, 
Napoleon seized on the whole of Italy, except Na- 
ples, of which his brother Joseph w as king. Tus- 
cany, Parma, and Placentia, were incorporated 
with the French empire. Rome, with the whole 
of the papal territory, w^as annexed to the Italian 
kingdom. At this time changes were continually 
taking place in the political relations of the courts 
of Europe, and those that one moment were al- 
lies, in the next were enemies.^ But as these al- 
ternate alliances and hostilities do not properly 



*N. B. The enquiring reader will meet with a circum- 
stantial account of these matters, with their causes and 
consequences, as weil as of all the transactions that have 
taken place since the French revolution, in the author's 
history of England., or his general history of Europe since 
the year 178S; both published by Longman and Co. Lon- 
don. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 239 

constitute any part of the history of France, we 
shall omit the detail of them in this epistolary com- 
pendium, and adhere to our subject. It will 
not, however, be amiss to observe, that in conse- 
quence of these fluctuations and the preponderat- 
ing power of France, all the ports of Europe, ex- 
cept those of Sicily and Sweden, were in the be- 
ginning of the year 1808, shut against the vessels 
and trade of Great Britain. 

21. The most important revolutions by which 
this period was marked were those which took 
place in Spain. While the court of Madrid was 
agitated by factions, the French emperor had, un- 
der the character of a friend and an ally, introdu- 
ced his armies into Spain, secured many of the 
chief towns, and seized the most commanding posi- 
tions. In the beginning of March, great popular 
tumults took place, and on the 19th of that month, 
his catholic majesty abdicated the throne in favour 
of his son the prince of Asturia. Soon after this 
event, the two kings of Spain, Charles IV. and 
Ferdinand VII. with the whole of the royal fami- 
ly, were allured to an interview with the emperor 
of the French at Bayonne. The grand duke of 
Berg, with a French army entered Madrid; but 
his arrival was followed by such terrible insurrec^ 
tions of the people, that he found great difficulty 
in keeping possession of the city. In the meaii 
while. Napoleon, having both the kings in his 
power, obhged them to sign a formal abdication; 
and on the 6th of June conferred the crown of 
Spain on his brother Joseph, who resigned his 
C c 



290 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

kingdom of Naples to prince Joachim Murat, 
grand duke of Berg, 

22. This unprincipled conduct of the French 
emperor proved the signal for a general insurrec- 
tion in Spain. The patriotic flame first burst 
out in the province of Asturia, and was rapidly 
communicated to every part of the kingdom. The 
assistance of England was solicited by the patriots, 
and readily granted. Their operations commen- 
ced with an ardour that showed their enthusiasm in 
the cause of national independence. On the 14th 
of June the French squadron in the harbour of 
Cadiz, after sustaining a severe cannonade from 
the city, surrendered to the Spaniards. On the 
28th, the French general Moncey, having made 
an assault on Valencia, was repulsed with a terri- 
ble carnage; and on the 30th his army was totally 
defeated by the patriots under generals Cerbellon 
and Caro. General Falafox also repulsed the French 
in two desperate attacks which they made on Sara- 
gossa. But the most important transaction took 
place in the neighborhood of Andujar, where, on 
the 20th of July, general Dupont, with an army of 
twelve thousand men, and a detachment of eight 
thousand that was coming to join him, surrender- 
ed to the Spanish patriots under general Castanos. 
By a remarkable coincidence, king Joseph made 
his public entry into Madrid on the same day that 
was rendered so inauspicious to his reign by the 
surrender of general Dupont and his army. The 
news of that event, and the approach of Castanos, 
suggested the necessity of a timely flight. On 
the 27th of July the intrusive monarch, after a re- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY] > 291 

sidence of only seven days, retired widi precipita- 
tion from Madrid, while the patriots advanced and 
took possession of that capital. The French now 
began to retreat from the southern and middle 
provinces of Spain, and to concentrate their forces 
near the banks of the Ebro. About the middle of 
August, ten thousand Spanish troops, under the 
command of the marquis Rom ana, made their 
escape from the Danish islands of Langoland and 
Funen, where they had been stationed as auxilia- 
ries to France, and being conveyed by a British 
squadron to Spain, they and their general joined 
the patriotic army. 

23. At this important crisis Portugal followed 
the example of Spain. A general insurrection took 
place in the northern provinces; and the French 
were obliged to concentrate their forces in Lisbon 
and its vicinity. The British government, resolv- 
ing to give every possible aid to the Spanish and 
Portuguese patriots, sent into Portugal a force of 
fourteen thousand men; under the command of 
general sir Arthur Wellesley, who, on the 21st of 
August, defeated general Junot at the village of 
Vimiera. And on the 30th of that month was 
signed the convention of C intra, by which it was 
agreed that the French should evacuate Portugal, 
and be conveyed, with all their arms, artillery, 
ammunition &c. to France, in British vessels, with' 
out any restrictions in regard to future service. 

24. On the 26th of October the British army, 
now commanded by general sir John Moore, com- 
menced its march from Lisbon into Spain, and 
proceeded to Salamanca. In the month of No- 



J92 LETTERS ON FREJ^CH HISTORY. 

V ember the emperor of the French arrived in Spain, 
defeated the patriotic armies, and on the 4th of 
December made himself master of Madrid. Ge- 
neral Moore, on receiving intelHgence of the sur- 
render of the Spanish capital, meditated a junction 
with the marquis Romana. In this view he,march- 
ed to Majorga, and being joined by general Baird, 
who had landed with a body of British troops at 
Corunnay the whole army, amounting to near twen- 
ty-nine thousand men, advanced to Sahagan. Na- 
poleon had now formed the grand project of cut- 
ting off the retreat of the British troops; and hav- 
ing for this purpose put in motion his difterent di- 
visions, under the duket of Dalmatia, Dantzic, 
Abrantes and Treviso, he himself marched from 
Madrid on the 18th December, with thirtv two 
thousand infantry and eight thousand cavalry. 
Thus the whole disposable force of the French, 
amounting to near seventy thousand men, forming 
an irregular crescent, was advancing in radii to in- 
close the British army.* 



*Titles ot the principal ministers and marshals of 
France under Napoleon's reign, requisite to be known by 
those who read the history of that period: — 

ministers: 

Talleyrand, prince of Benevento. 

Fouche, duke of Otranto. 

marshals: 

Berthien prince of Neufchatel. 

Bernadotte, prince of Ponte Corvo, now king pf Sweden. 

Ney, duke of Elchingen, afterwards prince of Moskvn:. 

Massena, J«ke of RivoH, prince of Eshng. 

Soult, duke of Dalmatia. 



LfetTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. SgS 

^5. General Moore was no sooner apprised of 
these movements than he commenced a precipitate 
tetreat through GaUicia. The march of the French 
emperor was greatly retarded by the difficult pas- 
sage of the mountains of Guadarama, which were 
covered with a deep snow, as well as by the inces- 
sant rains and overflowing torrents. But notwith- 
standing these difficulties, he had marched three 
hundred miles from the 18th of December, 1808, 
the day of his departure from Madrid, to the 2d 
of January, 1809, when he arrived at Astorga.' 
Finding, however, that the expected prey had 
eluded his grasp, he committed to marshal Soult, 
duke of Dalmatia, the future operations against 
the English. 

26. On the 11th of January, 1809, the British 
army, after fourteen days of forced and harassing 



Suchet, duke of Albufuera. 
Davoust, duke of Aucrstadt. 
MatMHont, duke of Ragusa. 
Mottier, duke of Treviso. 
Junot, duke of Abrantes. 
Lasnes, duke of Montebello. 
Le Febvre, duke of Dantzic. 
Macdonald, duke^of Tarentum* 
Augereau, duke of Castiglione^ 
Victor, duke of Belluno. 
Savary, duke of Kovigo. 
Bessieres, duke of Fstria. 
Kellerman, duke of Valmy. 
Arrighis, duke of Padua. 
Caulincourt, duke of Vicenzai 
Moncey, duke of Conegliano^* 
Duroc, duke of Friuli* 
C c 2 



::94 LETl'ERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

marches, reached Corunna. The duke of Dalma- 
tia with his division soon after arrived, and on the 
i6th, made an impetuous attack on the English, 
who were drawn up before the walis of the town. 
The French were repulsed; but general Baird 
lost an arm, and the commander-in-chief, sir John 
Moore, received a mortal wound, of which he ex- 
pired before midnight. He fell in the prime of 
life, but he fell covered with glory. The command 
devolved on general Hope, under whose able di- 
rection the troops were safely embarked. 

27. After the departure of the British forces, the 
most vigorous efforts were made by the French to 
accomplish the entire subjugation of Spain. The 
reduction of Saragossa was an event which the 
lapse of ages can never consign to oblivion. The 
siege*was conducted by marshal Lasnes, duke of 
Montebello, one of the ablest of the French com- 
manders; while Palafox, captain- general of Arra- 
gon, defended the city, which was taken on the 
17th of February, after a series of tremendous and 
incessant assaults, and a resistance unparalleled in 
modern history. About the same time the duke 
of Dalmatia advanced throua:h Gallicia into Portu- 
gal, and made himself master of Oporto. 

28. At this critical juncture, a new war which 
broke out in Germany, obliged ihe French emper- 
or to relax his efforts in the Peninsula. Austria 
resolved to make a magnanimous, but hazardous 
attempt to regain her former power, which had 
been so greatly abridged by the treaty of Presburg. 
The courts of Vienna and the Tuilleiies made tre- 
mendous preparations for wan On the 9th ©f 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HlSiORY. 29^5 

April, the Austrians commenced hostilities, by ta* 
king possession of Munich; and the king of Ba- 
varia, with his troops, joined the French. On the 
19th, Napoleon arrived at the army, and immedi- 
ately commenced a train of rapid operations. On 
the following day, he defeated a corps of Austri- 
ans at Abensberg, and carried Landshut by as- 
sault. On the 21st, he defeated their grand army, 
commanded by the archduke Charles, and strong- 
ly posted at Eckmuhl; and on the 23rd, the French 
having advanced to Ratisbon, took that city by 
storm. The Austrians are said to have lost not 
less than fifty thousand prisoners in these different 
actions. 

29. After these rapid successes. Napoleon ad- 
vanced directly to Vienna; and on the 23rd of 
May, the Austrian capital surrendered to his arms. 
The archduke having taken a position on the north 
side of the Danube, the French emperor fixed his 
head-quarters at Ebensdorf, on the right bank of 
that river. On the 20th of May, the French hav- 
ing, by means of pontoons, passed the first channel 
of the Danube, took possession of the island of In- 
der Lobau; and on the following day, they began 
to cross the second channel. But before their 
whole army had reached the north bank, they were 
attacked by the archduke, and a bloody but inde- 
cisive, action ensued. During the night, the other 
part of the French army passed over the channel; 
and the next morning, 23d of May, the battle re- 
commenced in the most sanguinary manner. The 
villages of Esling and Aspern were the principal 
theatres of the action, in which nearly twelve thou*^ 



2^6 LETTERS OiST FRENCH JttlSTORY. 

sand fell on each side. Neither of the contending 
parties could boast of a victory; shut the Austrians 
appear to have had the advafitage, as the French 
retreated to their former position in the island of 
Inder Lobau, although they gtill retained a fortified 
work on the north bank of the Danube. This 
bloody action terminated the adventurous and 
splendid career of marshal Lasnes duke of Monte- 
belio, who received a mortal wound, of which he 
sooii after died. 

30. During the short hiterval of inaction which 
succeeded this sanguinary conflict, the French em- 
peror and the archduke were employed in making 
preparations for deciding the contest; and the 
latter completed a line of works which seemed to 
bid defiance to every mode of attack. At length, 
in the night of the 4th of June, which was ex- 
tremely dark and tempestuous, the whole French 
army passed over to the northern bank of the Da- 
nube, and turned the works which the Austrians 
had constructed with extraordinary labour and 
military skill. The battle of Wagram commenced 
the next day about noon, and continued until nine 
in the evening, when the victory still remained 
undecided On the 6th, the action was renewed, 
and the Austrians were totally defeated. A treaty 
of peace between France and Austria, was soon 
after concluded. The emperor of Austria ceded 
Saltzburg, the Tyrol, and the Voralberg, to the 
king of Bavaria: part of Bohemia, and Austrian 
Poland, to the king of Saxony; and part of Car- 
riiola, Croatia, &c. to the kingdom of Italy. Thus 
all the efforts of the continental powers, instead of 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 297 

humbling, only contributed to the aggrandisement 
of the French emperor. 

31. In Spain, however, Napoleon began to meet 
with a check to his power. Another British army, 
of about thirty thousand men, under the command 
of general sir Arthur Wellesley, arrivmg in the 
Tagus, the French were soon driven out of Por- 
tugal. The British forces then advanced into 
Spam; and having formed a junction with general 
Cuesta, the united armies consisting of about se- 
venty thousand men, took a strong position at 
Talavera, on the Tagus. Here they w^ere attacked 
on the evening of the 27th of July, by Joseph Bo- 
naparte whose army was at least equal in number. 
After a severe conflict, the French were repulsed 
with great loss; but they retired in regular order. 

32. During these transactions, the British go- 
vernment was preparing a grand expedition, of 
which the objects were the destruction of the 
French fleet in the Scheldt, the conquest of the 
island of Walcheren, and, if possible, of the city of 
A ntwerp . The armament consisted of a powerful 
fleet, and above thirty thousand land forces, under 
the command of lord Chatham. But, although 
the first operations were successful and brilliant, 
the enterprise terminated in disaster. Flushing 
surrendered to the British arms on the 15th of Au- 
gust, after a short but vigorous siege; and lord 
Chatham made himself master of the whole island 
of Walcheren. But a variety of circumstances 
rendered all further progress impossible; and a 
malignant fever having made such ravages amongst 
tjie troops, as to threaten their total destruction^ 



298 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the English, about the middle of December; aban- 
doned that unhealthy island 

33, The campaign of 1810 opened with an as- 
pect favourable to France. In Spain, different di- 
visions of the French having forced the passes of 
the Sierra Morena, made themselves masters of 
the provinces of Grenada and Andalusia., In con- 
sequence of this irruption, the Spanish junto reti- 
red from Seville to Cadiz; a city w^hich, by its in- 
sular situation, could bid defiance to an v attack from 
the enemy. In the mean while, general Massena, 
formerly duke of Rivoli, but who from his bravery 
on the banks of the Danube was now distinguished 
by the title of prince of Esling, having taken the 
command of the grand army of France, made pre- 
parations for the conquest of Portugal. General 
Wellesley, who from his victory at Talavera had 
been created lord Wellington, in order to cover 
that country against the attempts of the French, 
remained some time at Celerico de la Guarda, 
without hazarding an action; and afterwards retir- 
ing towards Lisbon, took an exceedingly strong 
position at Torres Vedras, with his right extending 
to the Tagus. The prince of Esling followed his 
movements, and encamped in his front 

34. This year was distinguished by an event 
which seemed to insure the stability of Napoleon's 
throne, and promised the establishment of his dy- 
nasty. On the 16th of December preceding, the 
emperor of the French and his consort had dissolv- 
ed their marriage by mutual consent; and on the 
1st of April, 1810, Napoleon celebrated his nup- 
tials with the princess Maria Louisa of Austria, 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 299 

daughter of the emperor Francis II; but his ex- 
pectation of consolidating his power by that alli- 
ance proved to be fallacious. 

35. The year 1811 exhibited a scene of great 
activity in Spain; and it would be impossible to 
describe in this compendium, the various opera, 
tions that took place in that kingdom. The Frc^nch 
had commenced the siege of Cadiz; but the situa- 
tion of that city baffled all their attempts; and on 
the 5th of March, lieutenant general Graham de- 
feated, on the heights of Barrosa, a corps of their 
army commanded by marshal Victor, duke of 
Belluno. 

36. The position occupied by Lord Wellington 
at Torres Vedras was strong by nature, and ren- 
dered impregnable by art. The prince of Esling, 
therefore seeing it impossible to attack the British 
army with any prospect of success, began his re- 
treat from Santarem about the same time that the 
corps of marshal Victor was defeated un the heights 
of Barrosa. In retiring through Portugal, the 
French were greatly harassed by lord Wellington, 
who constantly hung on their rear: but Massena 
tarnished his military reputation by the cruelties 
which he suffered his troops to commit, and the 
desolation that marked his route, 

37. On the 8th of May, marshal Beresford, wh© 
had been appointed by the priiKe of Brazil to the 
chief command of the Portuguese army, invested 
Badajoz, But on receiving intelligence that the 
duke of Dalmatia was advancing to its relief, the 
British general raised the siege; and being joined 
by the Spanish generals Blake and Castanos, pre- 



300 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

pared to meet the enemy. On the 16th of May 
was fought, the battle of Albuera, one of the most 
sanguinary that occurred during the war; as the 
French lost nearly the half, and the the allies not 
much less than a third of the troops they brought 
into the field. The allies purchased the victory 
with the loss of above six thousand men; and mar- 
shal Soult being driven over the small river Al- 
buera, with the loss of nine thousand, retired to- 
wards Seville. Marshal Beresford returned to 
the siege of Badajoz, which he again raised, in 
consequence of the junction of the two armies of 
Soult and Marmont. In the eastern part of Spain, 
the operations of the French were successful. On 
the 28th of June, marshal Suchet carried Tarra- 
gona by assault: on the 26th of October, he made 
himself master of the castle of Murviedro, built on 
the ruins of the ancient Saguntum; and on the 26th 
of December, he defeated general Blake, who with 
his army took refuge in Valencia. 

38. The campaign of 1812 opened with sue 
success on the side of the French. On the 9th 
of January, Marshal Suchet made himself master 
of the large and important city of Valencia. Ge- 
neral Blake, who had shut himself up in the place 
surrendered with an army of sixteen thousand 
men, and vast magazines fell into the hands of the 
French, These signal successes obtained for 
marshal Suchet the title of duke of Albufuera. 
But the acquisition of Valencia was counterbalan- 
ced by the loss of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajoz; 
which were taken, the former on the 19th of Janu- 
ary, and the latter on the 16th of March, by Lord 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 301 

Wellington, although not without a very consider- 
able loss. The Spanish generals, in the mean 
while, carried on the war in other parts of the 
kingdom with activity and vigour, though not 
with great success. 

39. After the reduction of Ciudad Rodrigo and 
BadajoZjCLord Wellington marched into the inte- 
rior of Spain; and having advanced to Salamanca, 
entered that city amidst tlte acclamations of the in- 
habitants. A grand scene of military operations 
was soon after opened. The French army, now 
commanded by marshal Marmont, duke of Ragu- 
^a, began in the evening of the 16th of July to 
iwake a series of intricate movements, preparatory 
to the battle of Salamanca; which commenced on 
the 2^d, about two in the afternoon, and continu- 
ed until night. After a variety of attacks, repuU 
ses, and evtslutions, in which great military skill 
was displayed on both sides, the action terminated 
in the total defeat of the French. The allies pur- 
chased their victory with the loss of above five 
thousand killed and wounded: that of the French 
was much greater, besides seven thousand prison- 
ers; and their general, the duke of Ragusa, was 
severely wounded in the beginning of the action. 
The surrender of Madrid to the allies was one of 
the first consequences of this victory. 

40. Soon after the battle of Salamanca, the al- 
lies advanced to Burgos, and made themselves 
masters of some of the outworks; but they failed 
in all their attempts against the castle, and at length 
retired from before the place with great loss. In 
the mean while, the different Spanish corps had se- 

D d 



302 LETTERS ON TRENCH HISTORY. 

vefal skirmishes with the French and were often 
successful. The guerillas, a sort of irregular for- 
ces, also carried on their desultory operations with 
unremitting activity. In the autumn, the French, 
who had long but ineifectually besieged Cadiz, 
broke up their camp, and evacuated all the south 
of Spain. The British commander, who had al- 
ready been created earl, and afterwards marquis of 
Wellington and duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, was 
now, by a decree of the regency and the cortes, 
constituted generalissimo of the Spanish armies, a 
circumstance which gave to the national force an 
union and energy which had long been wanted. 

41. While France had, during this long war, 
been constantly aggrandizing herself on the conti- 
nent, her flag was expelled from the ocean, her 
marine was nearly annihilated, and she saw herself 
deprived of all her colonies. In the year 1810, 
Guadaloupe, and St. Eustatius, the only remain- 
ing islands belonging to the French and the Dutch 
iii the West Indies, surrendered to the British 
arms: the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon also 
underwent the same fate. And in the month of 
August, the following year, the opulent and com- 
mercial city of Batavia, with the whole island of 
Java, was reduced by a British armament sent out 
from Bengal. These losses completed the extinc- 
tion of the French and the Batavian power in both 
the East and the West Indies. 

4^2. In the mean while, the views of Napoleon 
had been invariably directed towards the exclu- 
sion of the British trade from the continent of Fan 
rope; and in this design he had, at one time, in a 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 303 

great measure succeeded. But that divine pro- 
vidence which rules the world, often frustrates the 
deep laid plans of politicians. Events are some- 
times diametrically opposite to expectation; and 
this grand project of the French emperor, in which 
he persevered with inflexible constancy, proved 
the rock on which his exorbitant power was final- 
ly wrecked, without leaving a trace behind. 

43. The year 1812 will stand as an epoch in his- 
tory, distinguished by the commencement of a war, 
which was ultimately productive of events, such as 
Europe had never witnessed since the descendants 
of Japhet first spread themselves over her ample do- 
main. When we consider the elevated rank of 
some of the persons concerned in the tremendous 
military drama, the extraordinary talents of others, 
the magnitude of the events, and the importance of 
the final catastrophe — this clash of contending 
nations, may be denominated the war of giants. 

44. The Russian emperor disdaining any lon- 
ger to submit to the restrictions of the continental 
system established by the ruler of France, resolv- 
ed to assert the independence, and extend the 
commerce of his empire, by opening his ports to 
the ships of all nations. This magnanimous reso- 
lution gave rise to a war between France and Rus 1 
sia, of which the first campaign was attended with 
a destruction of the human species unexampled in 
modern history. Towards the end of June, the 
emperor of the French entered the Russian domi- 
nions with an army of nearly three hundred thou- 
sand men, in the highest state of equipment and 
discipline. With this tremendous force he com- 



304 LETT&ES ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

pelled the Russians to abandon their fortified camp 
at Drissa, and after being victorious in the battles 
of Mohilow and Poltosk, as well as in several 
other actions, he burned the large city of Smolen- 
skovv. Still proceeding into the interior of Rus- 
sia, he remained master of the field at the sanguin- 
ary battle of Borodino; but the carnage was al- 
most incredible, and the loss on both sides nearly 
equal. A view of the ensanguined scene is said 
to have drawn from the French emperor this ex- 
clamation, "Jamais Pon n'a vu un pareil champ- 
de-bataille." *'Never has there been seen such a 
field of battle." 

45. After this bloody victory the emperor of 
the French advanced to Moscow. On the 15th 
of September he entered that capital, and fixed his 
head quarters in the Kremlin, the ancient and mag- 
nificent palace of the czars. But the city having 
been set on fire by the Russians, the invader found 
himself in the midst of smoking ruins. 

46. Until this critical moment the military ca- 
reer of the French emperor had displayed an un- 
varied scene of splendid success. The crimson 
wing of victory had fanned his banners; and most 
©f the nations of Europe regarded his arms as in- 
vincible. Accustomed so long to the smiles of for- 
tune, he scarcely supposed that she ever could 
frown, and when he sat down on the throne of the 
czars, he never thought of the abyss that was open- 
ing under his feet. 

47. Napoleon was no sooner master of Moscow 
than he offered peace to the emperor Alexander, 
who magnanimously rejected his proposals. The 



JLETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 305 

invader now saw the impossibility of procuring 
supplies for his troops during the severe season 
that was approaching. The Russian forces in the 
mean while daily increased in numbers, fresh 
troops arriving from different quarters; and the 
winter set in both somewhat sooner, and with 
greater severity than usual. In these circumstan 
ces Napoleon began his retreat on the 18th of Oc. 
tober exposed to the incessant attacks of the Rus- 
sians. In these bloody encounters the French 
were generally defeated; the severity of the season 
in that rigorous climate, in conjunction with hun- 
ger and fatigue, being more destructive than the 
sword, their once formidable army was nearly an- 
nihilated; and their retreat exhibited a scene of 
slaughter and loss, to which history scarcely af- 
fords any parallel. From comparing a variety of 
documents, it appears that there perished of the 
French between eighty and ninety thousand, be- 
sides above a hundred and sixty thousand that 
were made prisoners; so that this disastrous re- 
treat cost Napoleon near two hundred and fifty 
thousand men, forty thousand horses, and above 
eleven hundred pieces of artillery, which he had 
carried from France or taken from the Russians. 
The French emperor, who with his principal ge- 
nerals escaped with great difficulty, reached Paris 
about the end of December. 

48. The victorious Russians who now had the 

emperor Alexander at their head, having driven 

the French beyond the frontier, still continued the 

pursuit, and advanced without opposition into 

D d 2 



306 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV; 

Germany. On the 4th of March 1813, they ca- 
tered Berlin, where they were received not as in- 
vaders, but as deliverers from the tyrannical yoke 
of France. The nations who had for a time been 
obliged to submit to the overwhelming power of 
Napoleon, began to resolve on effecting their 
emancipation. Prussia set the example, which 
was followed by several German states; and the 
crown prince of Sweden, Bernadotte, formerly 
one of Napoleon's generals, joined in the confede- 
racy against France. 

49. In the mean while the shattered remnants 
of the French army having reached the Elbe, and 
received some reinforcements, concentrated them- 
selves on the line of that river. And the emperor 
having ordered fresh levies of conscripts, made 
formidable preparations for the ensuing campaign. 
Large bodies of troops marched from all parts of 
France to the banks of the Elbe: hostilities com- 
menced with great vigour: in several severe ac- 
tions the French had the advantage, and Europe 
was astonished at the numerous and formidable 
forces that Napoleon brought into the field, and 
the gigantic efforts which he made, notwithstand- 
ing his losses in the Russian campaign. An ar- 
mistice, however, was concluded, and the con- 
tending powers entered into negociations for a 
peace. 

50. While such was the state of affairs in Ger- 
many, Spain was a theatre of important transac- 
tions. Towards the end of the preceding year, 
the retreat of the French forces from the southern 
provinces, and their concentration in Castile, had 



LETTEKS ON FRENCH mSTOUY. 3^ 

induced lord Wellington to retire to Ciudad Ro. 
drigo. But the disastrous issue of the Russian 
campaign obliged the French emperor to withdraw 
a considerable part of his forces from Spain, and 
march them into Germany, where he intended to 
make his grand effort. The army in Spain being 
thus weakened, the British again advanced from 
Ciudad Rodrigo; and the French retiring north- 
ward, blew up in their route the castle of Burgos. 
Their movements being closely followed by the 
allies, the retreat and pursuit continued until they 
reached Vittoria, where a decisive battle fought on 
the 21st of June 1813, entirely broke the power of 
Napoleon in the peninsula. The French army 
commanded by king Joseph, who had marshal 
Jourdan for his major general, occupied a position 
in front of Vittoria, where they were attacked by 
lord Wellington, who gained one of the most com- 
plete victories recorded in the annals of war. The 
French lost fifteen thousand killed, wounded, and 
prisoners, and all their artillery consisting of a 
hundred and fifty pieces, besides four hundred 
and fifteen waggons of ammunition, &c. with all 
their baggage and military chest. The loss of the 
allies amounted to scarcely five thousand. 

51. The battle of Vittoria was followed by a 
train of vigorous operations. The duke of Dal- 
matia, being appointed commander- in- chief, made 
extraordinary efforts in order to retrieve the affairs 
©f the French in Spain. But he had to contend 
with an army greatly superior in numbers, and 
commanded by one of the ablest generals in the 
- ^vorld. These circumstances, however, did not 



308 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

deter him from making several bold attempts to 
recal victory to the standards of France. A num- 
ber of desperate conflicts took place, particularly 
on the 25th, 27th, and 28th of July, amidst the 
mountains and vallies of the Pyrenees. In all 
these operations, the conduct of both the French 
and British generals was a grand display of milita- 
ry skill; and the loss on both sides was very consi- 
derable. The result however, was the continual 
advance of lord Wellington towards the frontier of 
but France; marshal Soult in retiring, disputed 
every inch of the ground. On the 1st of Sep- 
tember, the allies carried the strong fortress of St.* 
Sebastian by assault, although the duke of DaU 
matia had made a bold and skilful effort for its re- 
lief; and soon after they made themselves masters 
of Pampeluna, and all the other places which the 
French had hitherto held on the Spanish side of 
the Pyrenees. 

52. In the eastern part of Spain, the war was 
carried on with considerable activity, and frequent 
skirmishes took place in which victory and defeat 
were alternate. But although the campaign in 
Valencia and Catalonia presented a scene of brisk 
operations, no important action took place, and 
the duke of Albufuera maintained his ground in 
the eastern part of the peninsula. 

53, During these transactions in Spain, the con. 
eluding act of the great military drama was com- 
mencing in Germany. The negotiations for peace 
were carried on for some time; and if Napoleon 
would have listened to reasonable terms, the Rhine 
might have continnued to be the boundary of the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 309 

French empire; but his presumptuous ambition 
and obstinacy caused his ruin. 

54. The time of the armistice being expired, 
the emperor of Austria joined the grand confede* 
racy, as did also the king of Bavaria; and hostiU- 
ties recommenced with extraordinary vigour. 
The emperor of the French arrived at Dresden on 
the 26th of August, just in time to repel an attack 
which the allies made on that city. And on the 
27th was fought the battle of Dresden, in which 
the allies were defeated with a very considerable 
loss. In this action the celebrated general Moreaii 
who was come from America to assist the allies in 
overturning Napoleon's throne, lost both his legs 
by a cannon shot and died within a few days. He 
had gained a high military reputation by his mas- 
terly retreat from the interior of Germany in the 
year 1796, and his able conduct in the campaign 
of 1800, had caused him to be regarded as one of 
the most distinguished of the republican generals. 
His death was greatly regretted by the allies, and 
at this critical juncture was regarded as a public 
loss. But these successes of the French were 
counterbalanced by a train of disasters. Van- 
damme, one of their most enterprising generals, 
was defeated on the frontier of Bohemia; and his 
whole division, consisting of eighteen thousand 
men, was annihilated; a great number being kil- 
led, and the rest, with their commander, made pri. 
soners. The crown prince of Sweden also defeat- 
ed several corps of the French in different actions. 
And on the 26th of October the Prussian general 
Blucher gained an important victory at Radefield: 



310 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 

his loss amounted to above seven thousand men; 
that of the French was almost double the number. 
55. All these partial engagements, however, 
were only preludes to the great battle of Leipsic, 
which decided the fate of' Napoleon, of France, 
and of Europe. This stupendous military scene 
opened on the 18th of October, 1813, a day equal 
in importance to ages, and which will for ever 
stand memorably distinguished in history. Here 
the whole strength of the belligerent powers was 
called into tremendous exertion: here were dis- 
played the banners of contending nations, from the 
Atlantic ocean to the Caspian sea. The allies 
were commanded by the iVustriaii general prince 
Schwartzenberg, the crown prince of Sweden, 
general Blucher, &c. under the direction of the 
emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia. Na- 
poleon, with his ablest generals, commanded the 
grand army of France, In the heat of the action, 
a body of Saxon artillery, with two battalions of 
their infantry, and two Westphalian regiments, 
went over to the allies, and were instantly led by 
ii3the crown prince against the French. After a 
dreadful conflict, victory declared for the allies, 
and the French retired with the loss of forty thou- 
sand men killed, wounded and prisoners; and be- 
tween sixty and seventy pieces of cannon. The 
next morning Leipsic was carried by assault; and 
the emperor Alexander, the king of Prussia, and 
the crown prince of Sweden, at the head of their 
respective troops, entering the town at opposite 
points, met in the great square. Napoleon, with 
the marshals Marmont, Macdonald^ Augereauand 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 311 

Victor, narrowly escaped. The king of Saxony 
with his court, and the rear of the French army 
were taken, besides all their w^ounded, above thir- 
ty thousand in number. The whole loss of the 
French in these actions near Leipsic, and in the 
capture of the town amounted to more than sixty 
thousand men, amongst whom were several gene- 
rals, and a hundred pieces of artillery, exclusive 
of the desertion of the Saxon troops and those of 
Westphalia. 

56. Napoleon, with the shattered remains of his 
army, made a precipitate retreat into France. The 
allies lost no time in commencing the pursuit, and 
made rapid advances. On the 20th of December 
the grand army, under prince Schwartzenberg, 
passed the Rhine at Basle. Marshal Blucher and 
the other generals, with their armies, passed that 
river at different points, and entered the French 
territory. 

57. The year 1814 is rendered memorable by 
the decision of the grand contest which had so long 
and so terribly agitated this quarter of the globe. 
The armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, 
Wirtemberg, &:c. having entered France, Holland, 
as well as Switzerland, cast off the yoke by which 
they had been long oppressed; and the stadtholder 
being invited by the unanimous voice of the peo- 
ple, returned to take possession of his paternal 
inheritance. Denmark and Naples acceded to the 
grand alliance. Thus all the nations of Europe 
were united against France; and while the com- 
bined forces of the north and the east entered her 
territories from Belgium and Germany, the Spa- 



312 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTOltY. 

oiards, Portuguese, and English, were making 
a formidable invasion from the south. 

58. Napoleon seeing France invaded on every 
side, collected the scattered fragments of his 
wrecked armies, and in the latter part of January, 
1814, departed from Paris, Arriving at Chalons 
on the 26th, he commenced his operations, and at 
first gained some advantages, which inspired him 
with the flattering hope of recalling victory to his 
standard. But the event proved contrary to his 
expectation. His veteran armies were almost an- 
nihilated, the warlike population of France was 
greatly exhausted, and the conscription, which was 
necessarily annulled in those parts of the country 
that were in the power of the allies, was every 
where carried slowly and unwillingly into effect. 
His forces, therefore, in this concluding part of the 
contest were greatly inferior to those of the enemies 
with whom he had to contend. 

59, On the 1st of February, marshal Blucher 
defeated near Brienne the army commanded by the 
French emperor in person, who, in leading on the 
guards, had his horse killed under him. In this 
action the Prussians took thirty-six pieces of artil- 
lery, and four thousand prisoners. On the 7th of 
the same month the Austrians obtained possession 
of Troyes; but on the 10th a Russian division was 
defeated by the French at Campobert; and on the 
following day the Prussian corps of baron Sachen 
mid general Yorck sustained, not without great 
loss, a desperate attack made by Napoleon in per- 
son, at the head of thirty thousand men. On the 
13th the Prussian general Blucher drove marshal 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 313 

Marmont from liis position at Etoges; but on the 
following day he was himself attacked by Napo- 
leon, who had made a forced march to Chateau 
Thierry. The attacks of the French were direct- 
ed in a masterly manner; but they were sustained 
with great resolution and military skill. Marshal 
Blucher, having formed his columns into squares, 
retired in excellent order; and for the space of al- 
most twelve miles, the action was a continual re* 
treating combat. All the squares, assailed on ev- 
ery side, moved forward in compact order, repel- 
ling all the attacks of the French, w hose force, es- 
pecially in cavalry was considerably superior. The 
Prussians lost three thousand five hundred men, 
and seven pieces of cannon; but their general gain- 
ed great honour by this well conducted retreat. 

60. The variety of success which attended the 
operations of the campaign prevented for some time 
the decision of the contest; and negotiations for 
peace were commenced at Chatillon, but soon af- 
ter broke oif. Several actions took place between 
the Marne and the Seine, but without being pro- 
ductive of any important effects. 

61. The campaign was, indeed, a scene of in- 
cessant action. On the 9th of March, marshal 
Blucher having concentrated his army in the city 
of Laon and the plain below, was attacked in that 
position by Napoleon, who brought forward his 
troops in well formed columns. The action con- 
tinued during the whole of the following day, and 
ended in the defeat of the French emperor, who 
having lost five thousand prisoners, and forty-five 
pieces of artillery, retreated towards Soissons. On 

E e 



J14 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the 13th, the second day after his defeat at Laon, 
he made himself master of Rheims, from which 
the Russian general, St. Priest, was obliged to retire 
with considerable loss. But on the 19th that city 
was re-occupied by the allies. The French were 
about the same time defeated by the Austrians at 
Arcis, and driven from that position. 

62. The French nation, which had during so 
many years carried invasion, depredation, and car- 
nage into almost all the countries of Europe, now 
saw its territory invaded from every quarter. 
About the beginning of the year, the combined 
British, Spanish, and Portuguese armies, consist- 
ing of above a hundred and ten thousand men, in 
the most perfect state of military discipline, and 
commanded by generals of consummate abilities, 
entered France from the Pyrenees. Soult, duke 
of Dalmatia, had scarcely fifty thousand to oppose 
to this formidable invasion. But although he had 
to contend with so great a superiority of force, 
conducted by the transcendant genius of Welling- 
ton, he displayed all the talents of an able com- 
mander, and disputed in France every inch of his 
ground with the same bravery and skill that he had 
exerted in Spain. His efforts, however, were in- 
effectual. On the 27th of February a bloody and 
obstinate action took place: the French were driv- 
en from all their possessions on the Adour; and 
the combined armies passed that river both above 
and below Bayonne. Of these operations the re- 
sults were important. Bayonne was completely 
invested: the large and opulent city of Bourdeaux 
declared for Louis XVIII. and the appearances 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 315 

of an insurrection against Napoleon became gene- 
ral in the southern parts of France. At Tarbes, 
marshal Soult again attempted to make a stand on 
the 20th of March, but being driven successively 
from all his positions, he retired to Tou louse. ^- 
About the same time marshal Suchet evacuated 
the eastern part of Spain; and the power of the 
French emperor beyond the Pyrenees being now 
completely extinct, his Catholic majesty, Ferdinand 
VII. was liberated, and permitted to return to his 
kingdom. 

63. Events of extraordinary importance were 
now about to take place. A fter an incessant series 
of well-fought actions and skilful manoeuvres on 
both sides, Napoleon adopted the bold, but fatal 
measure of throwing himself into the rear of the 
allies, in order to cut off their communication with 
Germany. - This manoeuvre might, by inclosing 
the combined armies between his cannon and that 
of the capital, have placed them in a difficult pre- 
dicament, if the Parisians had resolved to make a 
desperate defence, as he seems to have expected. 
But here he had formed his calculations on erro- 
neous suppositions. While victory was a constant 
attendant on his arms, and conquest accompanied 
all his steps, he had appeared to be the national 
idol; but now his circumstances were changed, 
and his influence at Paris was sunk far below its 
former standard. In a word, Napoleon, every 
where beaten, and unable to resist the invaders of 
France, was no longer the Napoleon who returned 
victorious from Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, and 
Wagram; and the Parisians were unwilling to risk 



316 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

the destruction of their city in the support of his 
fallen fortune. 

64. No sooner had the French emperor thrown 
himself into the rear of the allies, than the Austri- 
an generalissimo, prince Schwartzenberg, having 
formed a junction with marshal Blucher, passed 
the Marne on the 28th and 29th of March, and 
immediately advanced with the whole of the com- 
bined forces, amounting to two hundred thousand 
men, against Paris. The French army in the vi- 
cinity of the capital, commanded by Joseph Buo- 
naparte, with the marshals Marmont and Mortier, 
had taken a strong position, having its right on the 
heights of Belleville, and its left on Montmartre, 
with several redoubts in the centre, and a hundred 
and fifty pieces of artillery on the line. On the 
30th of March, the allies attacked this formidable 
position, and after a sanguinary conflict they were 
completely victorious; but not without great loss 
on both sides. The emperor of Russia and the 
king of Prussia were present during the action; 
and prince Schwartzenberg and the other generals 
merited immortal renown by their skilful arrange- 
ments and well directed attacks. This decisive 
battle will be for ever memorable from its import- 
ant results. Paris immediately capitulated; and 
the emperor Alexander, with his Prussian majes- 
ty, entered the city amidst the acclamations of the 
inhabitants, who hailed them as their deliverers 
from the tyranny of Napoleon. Never, indeed, 
did any conquerors make so glorious a use of vic- 
tory. The emperor of Russia, instead of aveng- 
ing on Paris the calamities of Moscow, declared 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORV, Slf 

himself the hiend of the French, and the protector 
of their capital. 

65. From that important day, the combined ar- 
mies of Europe became the peaceable garrison of 
Paris. A provisional goverment was formed; and 
a respectable party in the capital, who since the en- 
trance of the allies into France had projected the de- 
thronement of the emperor, and the restoration of the 
Bourbons, soon saw their hopes realized. The se- 
nate decreed the deposition of Napoleon; and the 
great disturber of Europe was obliged to sign a for- 
mal abdication of the thrones of France and Italy- 
Lewis XV III. was invited to take possession of the 
throne of his ancestors, a constitution vvas framed for 
his accepance; and having passed in a triumphant 
manner through London, and taken leave of the 
prince regent of Great Britain, his most Christian 
majesty, after an expatriation of almost twenty-five 
years, made, on the 3d of May 1814, his entry into 
Paris, amidst the plaudits and benedictions of the 
people. All the French generals and constituted 
authorities sent in their notices of adhesion to the 
act of the provisional government, which confirm- 
ed all ranks, titles, &c. Napoleon retired to the 
island of Elba, of which the allied powers ceded to 
him the sovereignty, with a yearly pension of two 
millions of livres, or about eighty thousand three 
hundred pounds sterling. The empress Maria 
Louisa was constituted archduchess of Guastalla, 
and her infant son, Francis Napoleon, duke of Par- 
ina and Placentia. All the branches of the Bonao 
partean family also obtained an ample provision bj[ 
annual pensions. 

E e 2 



Mb letters on FRENCH HISTORY. 

66. An unfortunate affair took place at this time, 
in the south of France. Lord Wellington had 
closely followed the movements of marshal Soult; 
and in consequence of the couriers sent off from 
Paris beins: detained on the road in a manner not 
satisfactorily explained to the public, the revolution 
which had taken place was not known at Toulouse 
until the news was too late to prevent a bloody 
battle, that was fought on the 10th of April under 
the walls of that city. ^ In this lamentable affair the 
allies gained the victory, but lost near five thousand 
men. The duke of Dalmatia retired with his 
army into Toulouse; but in the night of the 1 1th 
he abandoned the city, which lord Wellington 
Entered the next day, amidst the acclamations of 
the inhabitants, who unanimously declared for 
Lewis XVIII. and on the same day was received, 
intelligence of the revolution at Paris. Had the 
news arrived three days sooner, what a number of 
lives would have been spared! 

67. Every thing now breathed a spirit of recon- 
ciliation; and on the 30th of May, treaties of peace 
were signed at Paris between France and the con- 
federated powers of Europe. By these treaties the 
same limits were assigned to France that bounded 
jher territory in the year 1792, before the com- 
mencement of the revolutionary war: she also 
recovered all her settlements, except the islands of 
Mauritius and Bourbon, which were ceded to Great 
Britain; but the French were not permitted to 
have any forts, or keep on foot any soldiers in their 
factories in the East Indies, except those tliiit were 
'requisite for maintaining the police. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 319 

68. As to the other nations, Belgium and Hol- 
land were united, and the whole was erected into a 
kingdom, denominated the kingdom of the Nether- 
lands, under the sovereignty of the illustrious house 
of Orange, to which Great Britain restored all the 
Dutch colonies, except the Cape of Good Hope 
and the island of Ceylon. The emperor of Aus- 
tria recovered all his Italian dominions, with the 
city and territories of Venice. The pope and the 
king of Sardinia were restored to their dominions. 
Joachim Murat was confirmed in the sovereignty 
of Naples. Spain and Portugal were preserved ia 
their integrity. Part of Saxony was annexed to 
Prussia. Russia obtained indemnifications on the 
Polish frontier. Norway was taken from Denmark 
and annexed to Sweden. And a varity of minor 
arrangements were settled at a general congress 
afterwards held at Vienna. 

69. The political aspect of France and of Eu- 
rope now seemed to promise a lasting tranquillity. 
In this, however; as in many other cases, appear- 
ances proved fallacious. The conduct of the allies 
in leaving Napoleon a sceptre to play withal, might 
perhaps by some have been deemed more generous 
than politic; yet had he even been out of the ques- 
tion, France presented an assemblage of elements- 
sufficiently jarring to have produced, sooner or 
later, a tremendous explosion. The favours shown 
by the king to the noblesse and the clergy, alarmed 
the enemies of religion and the proprietors of the 
confiscated estates of the emigrants, as well as of 
the lands which formerly belonged to the church. 
This class, which included all the old partizans of 
tlemocratic principles, assuming the name of con- 



3Sd LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

stitiitionalists, from their zeal for the constitutional 
charter, and afterwards of liberalists, from their 
affected superiority to ancient prejudices, consti. 
tuted a formidable opposition to the court. To 
these were united several other classes of discon- 
tented persons, varying through all the shades of 
disaffection, arising from causes too numerous for 
investigation or detail. The constitutionalists how- 
ever in general, ah hough desirous of restricting 
the power of the crown, and opposing the influence 
of the noblesse and the clergy; never intended to 
restore the ex-emperor, of whose reign they had 
long been weary, and whose despotism they dread- 
ed more than that of the Bourbons. But the most 
terrible engine of mischief was the army, which, 
like the Praetorians of ancient Rome, the Janissa- 
Hes of Constantinople, the soldiery of England in 
the time of the commonwealth, and the Strelitzes 
of Moscow previous to the reign of Peter the 
Great, had, during the military sway of Napoleon, 
become in France a distinct body, claiming exclu- 
sive rights and privileges, and enjoying a separate 
and independent political existence. The emperor 
had always regarded his army as an evoked fiend, 
pressing for employment, and ready to tear in pieces 
the wizard whom he serves, unless kept perpetually 
in action; and his constant care was to supply with 
food its appetite for rapine. The soldiery, there- 
fore, and particiilaHv the "ci-devant" imperial 
guards, were highly dissatisfied at the pacific sys- 
tem now established under the auspices of the 
Boiirbonsj and sighed for the restoration of a chief- 
tain > who had led them so often to victory, c©n- 
,qu€stj and pillage* 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 321 

70. In this state of things, a conspiracy was 
formed at Paris for restoring the dethroned em- 
peror; and the affair being communicated to the 
discontented officers, the whole mass of the soldiery 
embraced the proposal with rapture. The king of 
Naples, Joachim Murat, flattered with the hopes 
of obtaining the sovereignty of all Italy, entered, 
unfortunately for himself, into the views of the 
conspirators, and resolved on the hazardous enter- 
prise which they recommended. Napoleon, being 
now assured of the support of the French army, 
and the alliance of Naples, resolved to risk the 
desperate experiment, of which the result could 
only be a bloody war, admitting of no termination, 
but either in his triumph over united Europe, or 
in his total ruin. 

71. Such were the circumstances in which the 
ex-emperor commenced his perilous undertaking. 
On the 1st of March 1815, he landed in France, 
with about eleven hundred adventurers from Elba, 
Not the least opposition was made to his progress: 
the royalists were surprised, confounded, and pa- 
ralised: the mass of the army, to a man, declared 
in his favour; and the marshals and superior officers, 
even those whose hearts perhaps had been hitherto 
loyal to the king, with a few distinguished excep- 
tions, deemed it expedient to swim with the stream 
which they could not resist. Lewis XVIII. with 
his principal adherents, and all the members of the 
royal family, retired into Belgium; while Napoleon, 
escorted by the army, entered Paris, where he was 
again proclaimed emperor of the French, amidst 
4he acclamations of the populace. The liberalists 



X22 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

detached from the family of Bourbon by a variety 
of opinions and incidents, had no other alternative 
than to rally around his standard; and thus all 
France, at least in appearance, was again united 
under his sceptre. 

72. Napoleon, in order to confirm his precari- 
ous authority, had amused the French with re- 
ports that Engl a lid had connived at his return from 
Elba, and that Austria had adopted the resolution 
of supporting his throne. But if he deceived others 
he himself saw all the dangers of his situation, 
and made vast preparations for the desperate con- 
test in which he was about to engage. The army 
of France, after so many bloody defeats, and so 
great a loss of horses and cannon in the retreats of 
1812 and 1813, from Moscow and Leipsic, as 
well as on several other occasions, had by the care 
of Lewis XVIII. been put on a respectable foot- 
ing; and Napoleon not only augmented its num- 
bers, but perfected its state of equipment. He 
caused a great number of cannon to be cast; and 
the army, consisting of about a hundred and fifty 
thousand men, had nearly three hundred pieces of 
artillery. The quality of the troops was in the 
highest degree of military perfection The cav- 
alry amounted to above twenty thousand in num^ 
ber; of whom the lancers were distinguished by 
their dexterous activity as well as their ferocity; 
and the cuirassiers by the excellence of their equip- 
ment, the tried bravery of the men,- and the supe- 
rior power of their horses. The elite of the infan- 
try consisted of the imperial guards, amounting to 
at least tweilty thousand, whose valour had ren- 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 323 

clered them victorious in many a bloody field, and 
whose attachment to Napoleon rose to enthusiasm. 
This army, however, appeared trifling in numbers 
when compared with the tremendous force which 
France had of late }ears brought into the field. 
But the power of the emperor appears to have 
greatly declined; and all the eff'orts which he made 
lor calling forth the national force; were wholly 
unavailing. Several of the departments would 
send him no conscripts; and in many of them, 
neither his intreaties nor his threats, could put in 
motiort a single l^attaliion of the national guards; 
circumstances which clearly show, that although 
he was idolized by those who were soldiers by 
profession; and trained to blood, he was not sup- 
ported by the zeal of the nation. 

73. The king of Naples, in the mean while, 
began his expedition against the north of Italy. 
But Austria at the first alarm, exerted herself with 
an activity unprecedented in her annals. Her 
troops were hurried forward to meet the Neapo- 
litans; and soon disphiyed their martial superiority. 
"1 he campaign was ended almost as soon as begun; 
and Joachim Murat, instead of obtaining the em- 
pire of Italy, lost his kingdom of Naples; to which 
Ferdinand iV. was by this sudden change of fortune 
restored. 

Napoleon, however, neither lost courage, nor 
slackened his preparations on account of the dis- 
aster of Murat, whose operations, if successful, 
would have been a powerful diversion in his fa- 
vour, by drawing the whole force of the Austrians 
towards Italy. But he had now to play a desperate 



324 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

game. A formidable force of English, Hanove- 
verians, &c. was assembled in Belgium, under the 
renowned Wellington, who had now obtained the 
title of duke, in reward of his eminent services to 
Great Britain, to Spain, and to Europe. The 
grand army of Prussia was also cantoned in the 
same country, while the formidable forces of Aus- 
tria and Russia were ready to march towards the 
Rhine, and retrace their former footsteps to Paris. 
74. It was generally expected that Napoleon 
would confine himself to a defensive war; but his 
temper, ardent and impetuous, always aiming 
rather at attack than defence, contributed, with the 
circumstances in which he was placed, to dictate 
a more daring plan of operations. His power was 
not sufficiently established, to insure him the na- 
tional support in a protracted war; and he needed 
now, more than ever, the dazzling blaze of decisive 
victory, to renew the charm once attached to his 
name and fortunes. The forces now moving 
towards France greatly exceeded in numbers 
those which that country could levy to oppose 
them, and it was impossible to protect the whole 
length of her frontier. He therefore resolved to 
make a sudden irruption into Belgium, and by a 
rapid movement, to direct his whole force against 
the English and Prussians, hoping that by so vi- 
gorous a measure, he might defeat his enemies in 
detail; and that one splendid victory would so 
completely restore his influence in France, as to 
enable him to carry the conscription into full effect, 
or even to accomplish a levy *'en masse," and 
thus present a formidable front to the combined 



LETTERS ON FHENCH HiSTORY. S25 

powers of Europe, He had already assumed an 
imposing attitude, having fixed his head-quarters 
at Laon, while his army occupied Valenciennes and 
Maubeuge, resting its left upon Lisle, and com- 
municating by its right with the corps assembled 
on the Moselle; but his future operations were not 
anticipated by the allies. 

75. You will not, my dear Sir, expect that I 
should attempt, in this compendium of historic in- 
formation, to give you a circumstantial account of 
the battles of Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo, 
nor of the various movements which ushered in 
those tremendous scenes. As all these things 
have been detailed at great length by different wri- 
ters, I shall here only present to your view the rough 
sketch of a magnificent picture. The marches 
and combinations of the different corps of the 
French army displayed in a conspicuous manner 
that high military talent by which the plans of Na- 
poleon's most fortunate campaigns had been so 
eminently distinguished. On the same day, and 
almost at the same hour, the army from Laon, 
with the emperor himself at its head, that of the 
Ardennes, commanded by general Vandamme, 
and that of the Moselle, under general Girard, 
having broken up from their cantonments, attained 
by a simultaneous movement, an united alligne- 
ment on the frontier of Belgium. 

76. On the 13th of June 1815, Napoleon is- 
sued an address to his army. He reminded the 
troops of the victories of Marengo, of Austerlitz, 
of Jena, of Friedland, and Wagram; and after set- 
ting before their eyes a pompous display of theif 

F f 



326 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY 

former achievements, and of the glory which they 
were now to expect; he concluded by observing, 
that the moment was come for every brave French- 
man to conquer or die. 

77. On the following morning, 15th of June, 
the French emperor having put his army in mo- 
tion, suddenly burst into Belgium, and the game 
of blood immediately began. The out-posts of 
the Prussians were driven in; and the garrison of 
Charleroi being obliged to abandon the place, re- 
tired upon Fleurus where marshal Blucher was 
concentrating his army. On the 16th, at three in 
the morning. Napoleon began to develope the da- 
ring plan which he had formed, of attacking on 
the same day both the English and Prussians un- 
der two such commanders as Wellington and Blu- 
cher. Marshal Ney, prince of Moskwa, with the 
left wing of the French army, above thirty thou- 
sand men, was ordered to march upon Brussels by 
Gosselies and Frasnes, and overpower the opposi- 
tion that might be made by the Belgians, or by 
the British who should advance to their support, 
while the emperor himself, with the centre and 
right, having the imperial guards as a "corps de 
reserve," marched towards Fleurus to attack the 
Prussians. 

78. As soon as the news of Napoleon's irrup- 
tion reached Brussels in the evening of the 15th, 
the prince of Orange, with the Belgians, flew to 
the support of his advanced posts; and the duke 
of Wellington put his troops in motion as fast as 
they could be collected from their cantonments. 
py these means a force was opposed to marshal 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HKl ORY 327 

Ney, which on the 16th efFectually arrested his 
progress. A desperate conflict took place near a 
farm-house or hamlet, called **Quatre Bras," from 
its being the point where the highway from Char- 
leroi to Brussels is intersected by another road at 
nearly right angles, in this severe action the 
duke of Brunswick was killed, and the loss was 
great on both sides. The duke of Wellington 
however, kept the field; and marshal Ney fell back 
upon Frasnes. 

79. In the mean while the French emperor at- 
tacked the grand army of Prussia, consisting of 
eighty thousand men under the command of the 
prince marshal Bhicher, who had posted his right 
at the village of St. Amand, his centre at Ligny, 
and his left at Sombref. The battle commenced 
about three in the afternoon; and was distinguish, 
ed by a character of ferocity seldom observed in 
modern wars. After a series of desperate attacks 
and bloody repulses, the Prussians retired with the 
loss of fifteen pieces of cannon, and above fifteen 
thousand men, most of whom w^ere left dead on 
the field, very few prisoners being taken. They 
retreated, however, in regular order, their infan- 
try forming compact masses impenetrable to the 
cavalry of the pursuers. Being joined at length 
by the corps of general Bulow, which marching 
from different cantonments through difficult roads 
had not been able to reach the scene of action; the 
Prussian army was once more concentrated in the 
vicinity of Wavre, about ten miles behind Ligny. 

80. On the morning of the 17th, the duke of 
Wellington received intelligence of the defeat of 



328 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY!. 

the Prussians on the preceding day. This cir- 
cumstance dictated the necessity of a retreat in- 
stead of following up his advantages at "Quatre 
Bras," by attacking marshal Ney at Frasnes. He 
therefore resolved to fall back towards Brussels to 
such a corresponding position as might maintain his 
lateral communication widi the Prussian army. 
The French emperor now directed his whole force 
against the English, only leaving Grouchy and 
Vandamme, with about twenty-six thousand men 
to hang upon the rear of Marshal Blucher, in or- 
der to occupy his attention, and prevent him from 
attempting to aid the duke of Wellington in the 
expected action. 

81. The movement of the French army from 
Ligny to Quatre Bras had occupied a space of time 
which the British general had not left unemploy- 
ed. Napoleon found the position abandoned, and 
immediately put his troops in motion to pursue 
his retiring enemy, ^ut the day being extreme- 
ly tempestuous and rainy, the state of the weather 
and of the roads concurred with the necessary dis- 
organization of the French cavalry, J after two such 
severe actions as those of Quatre Bras and Ligny, 
to enable the duke of WelHngton to effect his re- 
treat almost undisturbed by the pursuers. 

82. The British general took a position about a 
mile in front of the village of Waterloo, where he 
fixed his head-quarters for the night. The French 
whose forces were gradually coming up during the 
evening, occupied a ridge of high ground nearly 
in front of the English army. And Napoleon es- 
tablished his head-quarters at Planchenoit, a small 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 329 

village a little in the rear. Thus arranged, the 
two armies and their comnlanders waited the ar- 
rival of morning and the events whieh it was to 
usher in. The night was excessively stormy: the 
furious gusts of wind, the heavy falls of rain, the 
vivid and incessant flashes of lightning, and the 
loudest thunder ever heard in those climates, con- 
curred in forming a tempest violent in the ex- 
treme; and to which both armies, who were about 
equal in numbers^ w^re exposed in the situation 
of an open bivouack, without shelter, and desti- 
tute of the means of enjoying repose and refresh- 
ment. '[ 

83. At length the morning arrived, the memo- 
rable 18th of June, when Napoleon was to begin 
his last deadly struggle. The British army was 
posted on the heights of Mount St. John, in front- 
of Waterloo, maintaining by its left, through the 
passes of St. Lambert, a communication with the 
Prussians at Wavre, The French occupied the 
opposite ridge of "La belle Alliance," at the dis- 
tance of from half to three quarters of a mile from 
the British line. The intervening valley, about 
two miles in length, was the grand scene of action; 
and the chateau of Goumont or Hougoumont, si- 
tuated between the two armies, was an object of 
desperate and deadly contest. 

84. The battle of Waterloo, in which the num- 
bers on each side were nearly equal, w^as entirely a 
scene of hard fighting with very little manoeuvring. 

t The duke of Wellington's army was formed into 
^squares, impenetrable to the efforts of the French 
cavalry. But many of these squares suffered so 
F f 2 



330 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

severely from incessant attacks that they gradually 
began to present a diminished and less formidable 
appearance. In the mean while marshal Blucher^ 
leaving a strong rear guard to contend with the 
French general Grouchy, and occupy his atten- 
tion, put his main body in motion and began his 
march through the defiles of St. Lambert to join 
the British commander and partake in the action. 
The division of general Bulow was the first Prus- 
sian corps that arrived at the field of battle, be- 
tween three and four in the afternoon. But the 
French emperor had foreseen and provided against 
this attack by keeping in reserve a large body of 
troops whom he opposed to the Prussians with a 
promptitude that appeared like magic. The pnnce 
marshal was now pressing the march of his army 
through the defiles of St. Lambert, but the state of 
the cross roads was such, that the sun was rapidly 
declining towards the horizon before he could reach 
the ensanguined field. On the appearance of the 
Prussians, Napoleon supposed that Grouchy was 
either following close in their rear, or moving la- 
terally in the same line, and consequently as ready 
to support as they were to attack him; and this 
fatal error induced him to neglect his last chance 
of eifecting a retreat. 

85. The French had during the whole day cort, 
tinued their attacks with unceasing perseverance, 
and sustained with unshaken intrepidity, the most- 
bloody repulses. But although an almost incredi- 
ble number both of their cavalry and infantry had 
fallen in the struggle, this horrible carnage did not 
prevent the emperor from risking a final and des- 



LETTERS ON FREKCH HISTORY. 334 

perate effort. He had kept in reserve the imperial 
guards, about fifteen thousand in number; and 
these he devoted as his last stake to the chance of 
the desperate game. About seven in the evening 
placing himself in the highway fronting Mount St. 
John, and within about four hundred yards of the 
British line, he caused this distinguished infantry 
to defile before him, and pointing to the highway, 
exclaijued, ''There, gentlemen, is the road to Brus- 
sels.'' /I'he reiterated shouts of **Vivc I'empe- 
reur," with which the guards answered this appeal 
to their courage, seemed to rend the air, and in- 
duced the duke of Wellington, as well as his army, 
to expect an instant attack led on by the French 
emperor in person. Had Napoleon at this final 
crisis put himself at the head of the troops whom 
he destined to try the last cast of his fortune, if he 
had not succeeded, he might at least have fallen in 
a manner corresponding with his high military re- 
putation. 

86. The attack made by the imperial guards, led 
^n by marshal Ney; was bold and impetuous be- 
yond all description^ and continued for some time 
with a dauntless perseverance that seemed to bid 
defiance to all opposition, although their columns 
were almost annihilated, as fast as they advanced, 
by the British artillery. At length the assailants 
began to retire: the advance of the Prussians on 
their right flank, and the consciousness of no re- 
serve or support remaining, added confusion to 
their retreat. The British now resumed the of- 
fensive. The French were thrown into irretrievable 
disorder; 'and their emperor saved himself by a 



332 LETTEBS ON FRENCH BISTOKY. 

precipitate flight. The British cavalry being com- 
pletely exhausted by the exertions of this bloody 
day, the pursuit was committed to the Prussians, 
who made a most dreadful havoc of the fugitives. 
If we compare the most authentic accounts of the 
state of the French army before and after this tran- 
saction, it will appear that the battle of Waterloo 
must, including those who fell in the pursuit, have 
cost thfcm more than forty thousand men. The 
duke of Wellington lost between eighteen and 
nineteen thousand; but his victory procured him a 
glory superior to that of all other military com- 
manders of ancient or modern times; and his name 
will be distinguished in history as that of the gene- 
ral who conquered the conqueror of the world. 

87. This short but decisive campaign was not 
less important in its results than tremendous in its 
operations. Napoleon having effected his escape 
from the bloody field, was on his arrival at Paris 
a second time deposed by the councils. After 
wandering some time in the interior of France, the 
dread of being delivered to hi^ continental enemies, 
induced him to throw himself into the hands of the 
British government, who fixed his residence in the 
island of St. Helena, where the everlasting barrier 
of an immense ocean prevents him from disturbing 
any more the peace of the world. S^ 

88. Thus terriiinatcd the political and military 
career of Napoleon Bonaparte — a career distin- 
guished by the most important events that ever 
marked the life of any individual. None of for- 
tune's favourites ever attained to a higher degree 
of elevation, and none afterwards sunk into a lower 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 333 

state of depression. In forming an estimate of this 
extraordinary man, we must not be guided by 
the representations either of his friends or his ene- 
mies, but by an impartial observation of his cir- 
cumstances and actions. It is sufficiently evident, 
that an ambition unrestrained by any scruples of 
consciencd was the predominant trait in his charac- 
ter; but th^s is common to all those idols of fame 
whom history holds up, under the imposing titles 
of heroes and conquerors, to the admiration of 
mankind. His military skill was conspicuous to 
all Europe; and his talent for combining the ope- 
rations of numerous armies, either in a single ac- 
tion or in a whole campaign, was certainly never 
surpassed. But the various errors into which he 
fell towards the end of his reign have ruined his 
reputation as a politician. His seizure of Spain 
was not less impolitic than unjust,< as it converted 
an obsequious ally into an implacable enemy, and 
involved him in a war which cost him near half a 
million of his best troops-^-a force which, if pre- 
served, must have rendered him invincible. Be- 
sides, if he had succeeded in his design of subdu- 
ing the Peninsula, he could not have had any rea- 
sonable expectation of preserving either Spanish 
or Portuguese America. But his expedition into 
Russia was the worst planned, as well as the most 
disastrous, of all his enterprises. , When the sea- 
son was so far advanced, he ought certainly to 
have remained on the frontier of that empire during 
the winter, and to have established the Polish king- 
dom or republic, where he might undoubtedly 
have organized an army of a hundred thousand 



334 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

men, strongly attaetied to his interests. He would 
thus have had a powerful ally, and a friendly coun- 
try in his rear to supply his army with provisions 
during the winter, and might have entered Russia 
early in the spring. In that case, if we may form 
a conjecture from the events which actually took 
place within the space of three months, it seems 
not improbable that he might have been master of 
Moscow at the same season of the year in which 
he passed the frontier, But, by his precipitation 
in proceeding into the heart of the country at so 
advanced a season, he left himself no time either 
to negotiate or retreat. It would seem that he had 
wholly overlooked the nature of the climate, or 
thought that the elements themselves would be 
ruled bv his will, and suspend their operations in 
his favour. The Russian expedition was the cri- 
sis that decided his fortune. By prudence, how- 
ever, his loss, terrible as it was, might have been 
in a great measure retrieved, and his fall have been 
prevented. If his presumption and obstinacy had 
not opposed tlie conclusion of a peace during the 
armistice of Dresden ,\ the Rhine might still have 
remained the boundary of the French empire; 
while the liberation of above a hundred and fif- 
ty thousand of his troops, that were prisoners in 
Russia, would have re-established his military 
power. And if he could have brought his mind 
to submit to the pressure of his circumstances, 
the negotiations at Chatillon afforded him a last 
chance of retaining the imperial crown of France. 
Even in Elba, he might have been happy, had not 
his restless ambition precipitated him isnto the 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 335 

abyss of irretrievable ruin. It indeed appears evi- 
dent, that if Napoleon had gained the victory of 
Waterloo, it must have been with so great a loss 
of men as would have left him wholly unable to 
resist the forces of all the combined powers, which 
were preparing to pour themselves into France. 
In rejecting on the numerous errors of the French 
emperor towards the end of his reign, he seems 
to have laid under that kind of judicial infatuation 
which falls upon nations and individuals when 
providence has decreed their fall, and of which 
history furnishes so many examples. 

89. Immediately after the total defeat of Napo- 
leon at Waterloo, the combined British and Prus- 
sian armies advanced to Paris: on the 3d of July 
the articles of capitulation were arranged and sign- 
ed; and his most Christian majesty returned to 
the seat of his government. In order to secure 
the tranquillity of the kingdom, it was by treaty 
agreed that Valenciennes, Conde, Maubeuge, Lan- 
drecy, Quesnoi, Cambray, Givet, Charlemont, 
Meziercs, Sedan, Thionville, Longwy, Mont- 
medy, Rocroi, Avesnes; and the bridge head of 
Fort Louis should be garrisoned by the allies for 
five years: that during the same space of time the 
combined powers should leave a force of a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand men upon the frontier, to 
be maintained by France; of these Austria, Prus- 
sia, Great Britain, and Russia were each to fur- 
nish thirty thousand, Bavaria ten thousand; Han- 
over, Wirtemberg, Saxony, and Denmark were 
to supply in the equal proportion of five thousand 
each, the remainder. And France agreed to pay 



336 LETT&RS <5N FRENCH HISTORY, 

to the allies seven hundred millions of livres (about 
thirty millions sterling) as an indemnification. 
Thus the once brilliant sun of Napolean set, never 
more to rise: Lewis XVIII. was established on 
the throne of his ancestors: peace was restored to 
France and to Europe; and every provision was 
made for its permanency. 

90. In reviewina: the repeated irruptions of the 
combined armies into France, you will, my dear 
Sir, very easily discover the different eifects of 
conciliatory and repulsive measures. The violent 
manifesto of the duke of Brunswick, threatening 
France with subjugation, and its capital with de- 
struction, united all parties in one common cause, 
and produced a resistance, which not only pre- 
vented the Austrians and Prussians from penetra* 
ting to Paris, but soon compelled them to evacu- 
ate the country. The coalesced sovereigns, on 
the contrary, disclaimed all enmity against the 
French nation, and declared that their contest was 
solely with the emperor. Their conduct corres- 
ponded with their professions, and the lenity which 
marked their progress disarmed a hostile people. 
The consequence was, that they met with no op- 
position, except from Napoleon and his armies, in 
twice advancing to Paris. Thus the procedure of 
the confederate powers, in the grand contest with 
the French emperor, was diametrically opposite to 
that which was adopted at the commencement of 
the revolutionary war; and the result was not less 
different. 

I shall now, my dear Sir, conclude with direct- 
ing your mind to a very important consideration. 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 3Sf 

The ways of that Being, who governs the world, 
are inscrutable, and all his dispensations, how pro- 
ductive soever of temporary evil, tend to an ulti- 
mate good. Amidst all the horrors of a revolu- 
tion, which caused France to bleed at every pore, 
the nation had imbibed a spirit of liberty which no 
calamity or danger, no. tyranny of ephemeral rul- 
ers, could ever extinguish. The French at its 
commencement pursued a phantom; at its termi- 
nation they obtained a reality: the restoration of 
the Bourbon dynasty was accompanied by the es- 
tablishment of t( free representative constitution, 
framed nearly on the model of that of Great Bri- 
tain. The evils attending the ebullitions of re- 
volutibnary frenzy were severely felt more than 
twenty years: the good that followed when those 
convulsions subsided may extend its operations to 
twenty centuries. 

With every sentiment of respect and esteem, 

I remain, dear Sir, 

Yours, &c. 
< 

P. S. In concluding this sketch of French his- 
tory, it will not be amiss to mention the final ca- 
tastrophe of Joachim Murat, king of Naples, bro- 
ther-in-law to Napoleon, and one of the principal 
actors in the terrific drama, which had so long in- 
volved all Europe in its bloody scenes. After his 
expulsion from Naples, he retired into Corsica; 
and having wandered about for some time, and 
collected a small band of desperate adventurers, 
he made a daring attempt to recover his kingdom, 
in the expectation of being replaced on the throne 



338 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

by the unanimous exertions of the people. But, 
like Napoleon, he appears to have formed too high 
an estimate of popular favour, which so readily 
forsakes its idols, and of which all the demonstra- 
tions are so often fallacious. Having landed with 
his small band on the Neapolitan coast, instead of 
meeting with friends as he expected, he found 
himself surrounded by enemies; and being made 
prisoner ^vas immediately shot, after a summary 
trial before a military tribunal. Thus terminated 
the bustling and bloody career of Joachim Murat, 
who from the low station of a hussar had been 
raised to a throne, which he lost by his restless 
ambition, and then fell a victim in a rash attempt 
for its recovery. The closing scene of his life 
bore a striking resemblance to the catastrophe of 
the due d'Enghien, at whose trial he acted as pre- 
sident — a circumstance, which would probably 
occur to his mind in his last moments. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

1. — "W'lien did Spain declare war against England:*' 
2. — When was tlie battle of Trafalgar!^ 
3. — Where was lord Nelson killed:^ , 

4.— -In what year was the grand confedeiracy formed:*? 
AVhat number of troops did the continental powers 
engage to bring into the field:'* 
;5. What was the disposable force of France.^ 

6. • 



ii 



S. — When was the battle of Austeriitz fought:-? 

Who gained the victorj.^ 
0- — In what year did Joseph Bonaparte take possession 
of Naplesi? 



LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 339 

10. — In what year did Francis II. take the title of em- 
peror of Austria? 
11. 

12 — When was the battle of Jena? 

Who gained the victor}? 
13. 



I 



14. — When was fought the baitle of Pultosk^^'.. 

15. — When was the battle of Eylau.'' 

16. 



17. — When was the battle of Friedland fought, and be- 
tween what nations? 
Who gained the victory.^ 
IS. — When was the peace of Tilsit concluded between 

Russia, Prussia* and France? ^ ./^^ / , 
19. — In Avha( year did the PortuguescgcK'efnVeiit remove 

to Rio de Janeiro.V '. 
20. — W^hen did Napoleon seize on Rome, (J'c? 

What ports were shut against British vessels? 
21. — When did Napoleon make his brother Joseph king 
of Spain? 
Who was made king of Naples? 
22. — When did general Dupont surrender to the Spani- 
ards? 
What Spanish general, with his troops, made his 
escape from Denmark? 
£3. — When was the battle of Vimiera fought? 
24. — With what force did the French emperor endeavour 
to surround general Moore? 

o p: ^______^ 

26. — Where was general sir John Moore killed? ' ' 
27. — Who assaulted, and who defended Saragossa? ' 
28. — In what year did a new war break out between 

France and Austria? , 
29. — When was the battle of Esling fought, and on the 

banks of what river? 
Who commanded the two contending armies? 
30. — When was the battle of VV^agram fought? 
31. — When was the battle of Talavera fought? 
32 — In what year was the Walchercn expedition? 
33. — In what year did the French become masters of the 

south of Spain? 



340 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

34.^ — When did Napoleon marry Maria Louisa of Aus- 
tria? 

35.- When did the English defeat the French at Barrosa? 

S6. — When did general Massena retreat from Portugal? 

37. — A¥hen was the battle of Albuera? 

38. — What French general took Valencia? together with 
general Blake and his troops? 

39. — When was the battle of Salamanca? 

Who commanded the French and allied airnies? 

40. — Who was constituted generalissimo of the Spanish 
armies? 

41. — In what state were the French marine and colonies? 

42. — What was the grand object of the French emperor? 

43.— By what event was the year 18li! disli!iguished? 

44. — With what force did Napoleon enter Russia? 

45. — On what day, t)J*c. did he enter Moscow? 

46 ► 

47. — On what day did he retreat from Moscow? 

48.— Who was the crown prince of Sweden? 

49.- : 

50. — Who commanded the French and' allied armies at 
the battle of Vittoria? 

51. — Who took the command of the French armies after 
the battle of Vittoria? 

52. 

54. — When, and where was general Moreau killed? 
55.— When was the great battle of Leipsic.^ 

Who commanded on each side? 
56^ — When did the allied armies enterFrance? 

57. 

58. 

59.-^ . — -__ 

60. — Where were negotiations for peace begun? 

61 . 

62. — How many troops had the duke of Wellington when 
he entered France? 

What number had marshal Soult? 
63. — What measure did Napoleon adopt? 
,64, — With what force did the allies march against Paris? 



ij:tters on French history. 341 

65.— Oil what day did Lewis XVIII. enter Paris.^ 
66.— What was the cause of the battle of Toulouse? 
67. — When was the general peace concluded.^ 
What wereithe limits assigned to France.^ 

68. What new kingdom was formed at the peace? J 

69.— To what troops might the French army be compared?! 
70. — What views had Murat in joining with Napoleon? ; 

71. When did Napoleon return to France? t 

72. By what qualities, &c. were the French lancers and 

cuirassiers distinguished.^ 
What corps was the elite of the French army? 
73. — What befel Joachim Murat^ 
74. What were Napoleon's views in making an irruption 

into Belgium? 

75. -— ^ 1' 

76.— 



77] When did Napoleon burst into Belgium? 

73! > When did the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny take 

79. \ place? ■ 

SO.—Why did the duke of Wellington retreat? ■ 

81*. Why was his letreat so little disturbed? \ 

82. In what state did the two armies pass the night pre- 
vious to the battle of Waterloo? 



pg^ ., ■ ■ - - ■ ■ — 

84.— How was the duke of Wellington's army drawn uf 

in that battle? 
85. — 



86^ What French corps made the last attack? 

87^ What became of Napoleon after the battle? 

83* What was the predominant trait in the character o: 

Napoleon? . o • = 

What were the consequences of his seizing on Spaini 
What was his oversight in his Russian expedition? 
What advantages would he have gained by conclu 

dino a peace during the armistice of Dresden? 
Could'' the battle of Waterloo if he had gained tli; 

victory, have insured him any permanent advan 

tage? 
g9..— What Dumber of troops did the allies agree to leav 

in France? , 



343 LETTERS ON FRENCH HISTORY. 

90.—- What was the difference between the conduct adopt- 
ed by the allies at the couimeiicement of the revo- 
lutionary war, and in the contest with Napoleon? 
What kind of constitution did the French establish 
at the restoration of the Bourbons? 



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Jla^ published during tJie present year^ 

THE U^IVERSAL LETTER WRITER, 

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Go\4smit\v's History ol England. 

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